Konoha IRL
by Skins Thunderbomb
Summary: AU Itachi starts his final year of highschool. There are many things awaiting him in this year, along with his friend Sasori. And what secrets will they uncover about the past of this mysterious place only known as the district of Konoha? Complete
1. Ground Breaking

Another fic! An AU this time, yay :P 

_Japanese you should/need to know:_

_San, kun, chan, chin, sama – Japanese suffixes. The first two as normal greetings, the third and forth being cute greetings, and the last as adressing formally._

_Bento – Japanese lunchbox._

_Sharingan – Mirror wheel._

_Hope you enjoy :) (this was beta-ed by Crinklescofftrip -loves on-)  
_

**Konoha IRL - High school**

**Ground Breaking**

High school, they say, is the time of a persons life where everything happened or nothing at all. It was when hormones ran wild, and laws were broken, and students would be divided into their little sections where they would either remain for the rest of their life or completely defy all expectations. And also, out of most authors in the real world, because of this it was often one that was written about quite extensively.

As it was, the nine people who went to a particular high school in Japan were ones that fit into all the different categories available, and those that would completely defy it. All of them very different, and some that were drawn together for some reason beyond all comprehension. It was as if in a previous life they had been together, and it should be noted that they defied cliche's like you would not believe.

And so, the new term started in September, with summer over and done with and autumn hitting the shores of the school known only as Konoha high. The area known as Konoha (funny name, but it had been named that since ancient times) was a thriving place, and produced excellent families. However, sometimes they got transfer students from the nearby schools around, and vice versa. The same went for different countries. It was as if some people from around the world were drawn to this strange little section of Japan, but even so, everyone who went though this school found that their world was either normal, or changed for good.

That year, Uchiha Itachi started his final year of high school. Having turned eighteen in the summer break, he prepared to hit the books once more. He was a renowned genius, and his favourite subject was ...none, but he found himself to be a very able runner. He was very fast, but he excelled in all his other subjects as well, so it seemed so pointless to pick a favourite. And he was a predictable girl magnet, although he did not answer any of the many love letters that were inserted into his shoe box every morning.

Although he had been most upset to find that his current sports teacher had retired. Itachi did not like many people, but the teacher was one he liked. Still ... he hoped the one they would get for his final year would be just as good. Getting along with people was not something he was particularly famous for.

He had a friend by the name of Sasori, though. He had come to the school from another country, and had been studying in Japan since Itachi had been in the 8th grade. They had become friends slowly, since both of them did not trust easily, but they both went together rather well. They were both quiet, both chick magnets (much to both of their disgust and eternal annoyance), and both strong in achedemics. Although the red head did not share Itachi's interest in sports so much. Sasori had bright red hair, something that the fan girls that followed Itachi around loved as much as the Uchiha's beauty, and was also a source of awe. Not many people hanging around Japan had such a bright colour, after all ...

There was one person Itachi did not get along with very well though. Deidara was his name, and the man was so flamboyant that he practically screamed gay. Still, no one could touch him, as the blonde was also a skilled fighter. Itachi was glad he would not be taking classes with him this year. He had a strange attraction to Sasori, however, and said that he admired the other's art. The two were often caught in heated discussions about their views on art, and it was more often than not that the art classes they took would turn into a battle field until the teacher shrieked at them to behave themselves. Even Itachi would have a smirk of amusement on his face when he met the other boy for lunch and found the red head distinctly frazzled.

Another strange one, a transfer teacher was Zetsu. He had dark green hair and was very quiet, and was currently teaching geology. Why he had come to Japan was a mystery to everyone, but he had been there for three years now. Itachi heard he came from Brazil, and that while he was there he had been a rather amazing prodigy at his subject.

Even so, when Itachi woke up at 6:30 am to get ready for his first day of the new semester, his cat, Sharingan had come in to greet him. Itachi had named him that because his black fur coat was streaked with ginger in panther spots, and mirrored almost perfectly on the other side of his back. He was a very unusual cat, and Itachi thought that although he did not like company, his cat was quiet, kept his feet warm in winter and caught the mice that sometimes intruded into the family home. All in all, Itachi found him to be very clever, and a good companion.

He took a shower and cleaned himself thoroughly. He had always kept himself as pristine as possible, and since he was a runner, it definitely was something he took extra care in. Washing his hair, he made sure the long black hair was cleansed of dirt and sleep before turning the water off and stepping out of the shower.

After he dried himself, he put on his uniform and headed down stairs, greeting his mother and father. His brother had not got up yet, and Mikoto sat a cup of coffee in front of him, saying, "So, today is the start of the new year! I hope it goes well." She smiled. "Breakfast is almost done."

"Hn," He nodded, taking a sip out of the cup. He watched as his father got ready for work, and wondered what exactly was in store for the day for him. His father had high expectations of his son, but Itachi had stated plainly that he would follow whatever course of life he wanted to, regardless of what he thought. Fugaku had been extremely angry with him on this, but had soon come to the conclusion that his son would not be denied. If Fugaku was a forceful personality in getting what he wanted, his son was downright deadly.

In the end, it had been good for both of them, and Fugaku had grown to accept his son just the way he was. It had eased a lot of tension off the family's shoulders then, and made everyone happier. This was when Itachi had entered high school, at the age of thirteen.

When breakfast was put in front of him, Sasuke ran down the stares and said a rushed "Good morning!" before getting into a chair and sighing out. His mother said he didn't have to run, since he still had plenty of time, but Sasuke said that he wanted to get used to waking up early since he was now a junior high school student. Itachi smirked behind his coffee cup, and ate his breakfast when the rest of his family took their seats.

Before Itachi left for school, he gave Sharingan a bowl of food to eat, and waved to his mother, as his father had left for work at that time. He walked with his little brother to the bus stop, and noted that as he did, Sasuke became more nervous. Still, Itachi reached the point just down the road where a few other students stood, waiting for the bus to come. He looked down at his nervous sibling and said, "Relax."

"But nii-san..." He looked up with a nervous look, "Naruto is going there with you, isn't he?" Itachi sighed.

"Yes, of course." Naruto would never go to school without his best friend. "He would kill his parents if they didn't."

The bus arrived then, and Itachi showed his pass to the driver before answering, "then you're fine." and he stepped onto the bus with his brother in tow, and headed to the back to sit beside Sasori. Sasuke sat on his own up the front, getting out a book to read to take his mind off the first day. The red head looked over and said, "Is your brother starting this year?"

"Yes," Itachi replied, looking over once before getting out a book. "And hopefully he will grow to be a bit more mature."

"We shall hope."

It was how the days normally started for Itachi. He would hop on the bus, and arrive at school fifteen minutes later. When he walked in though the gates, a couple of girls would giggle about him as he passed with Sasori, and he ignored them as always. He hated giggly girls, really. He was starting to wonder if he would ever find a girl that was tolerable enough for him to actually _talk_ to for five minutes without him getting a migraine from the sheer ANNOYANCE. It made him wonder very strongly if he wouldn't just end up alone ...

However, when he was in the 8th grade and had met Sasori, he had taken great pleasure in dissing said girls to the red head, inwardly delighted that he could share his torture with another sane soul.

Eventually, he found the room he would now be occupying, and reading the student list, he was pleased that he was still with Sasori. He turned to the redhead and asked him how his summer had been.

"Nothing new;" Sasori sat down at his desk now, looking around at the classmates they would have this year. "Went to the beach, and that was it."

"Sounds about as boring as mine." Itachi said in response, waiting for their home room teacher to turn up.

The missing teacher eventually did, but strangely, their principle came in then and with him was a man with blue hair that naturally seemed to defy gravity, with a strong build and bright gold eyes. High cheekbones defined his face, and a scar under each eye that kind of looked like gills if one looked closely enough. Itachi watched this man with slightly narrowed eyes, but then the strange gold eyes flickered to his then, and Itachi immediently felt a clench on his heart, not the kind that was like a crush ... but it seemed as though, for some reason, that man was familiar.

Itachi was not one to get strange feelings from people. Nor was he one for affection of any kind and he had never taken a romantic interest in anyone, but the way the sudden feeling that came over him was, it made him freeze in his seat almost.

Sounds … one sound came to him. The calming chime of a bell. In the past, or from something or somewhere … this man was very, awfully familiar.

But why … _how_ could he be so surreally familiar to him?!

"This is Hoshigaki Kisame, your new home room teacher. He will also be instructing P.E to those who are taking that class." Rei said. He had orange hair, and had a liking towards nose piercings. As it was, he was definitely not your average principle. "Please treat him kindly." He left soon after.

Kisame looked around the classroom then. His eyes found a pair of black eyes that were looking at him rather intently (he had not really been paying attention when he eyed the student beforehand,) and Kisame blinked, before bowing to the class, "It's a pleasure to meet you all. I am Hoshigaki-sensei. I hope we have an enjoyable year together." He smiled to at them, and they all said "yes!" cheerfully before the bell rang, and they all headed to their first class.

Itachi picked up his books and everything he would need for his class, still looking at the blue haired man, and wondered … was it just a sheer co-incidence that he had felt a tug in his chest when he looked at the other, or did it have more attached to it? The older Uchiha glanced at him once more before he felt a tug, and turned to see Sasori looking at him as if to ask 'What are you doing?'

Itachi shook his head, walking onwards. He had more important things to do than figure out things about new teachers.

And so, Itachi's final school year began. Like with most stories that came with high school, the final year was something that some people expected to be the greatest one of all, another cliché that was rampant in society these days. Everyone's stories were very different, and yet, none of them could really say what year of their school like was better than another unless something significant happened, like going overseas … But in the end, this is a story of souls that have been unknowingly transported across time and space into this day and age. Something? It was bound to happen.


	2. Unexplained Sensation, Newly found Imagi

_I bring you chapter 2. I'm glad this story has gotten positive responses thus far, and I hope you will continue to enjoy my story. My beta wanted to personally kill me for this story, as it contains a little surprise about one of the characters, which you will either love me or hate me for :P Either way, I hope you will continue to read and review XD _

**Unexplained sensation, newly sparked imagination**

When Itachi had taken art as a compulsory subject back in the 7th grade, it had been the one grade he had almost failed. Why, you might ask? Itachi had no art skills, and no brilliant imagination, simply because he chose not to think about things that might not exist because they were too exhausting. 

And yet, when he had felt a twinge in his chest when he looked at that man, he found himself faced with a question; who is he?

It had bothered him in the very back of his mind, and while he attended his lessons and did his work, it still lingered. He did his work as normal, wrote down his homework in his diary and then looked over at Sasori as lunch time arrived. The red head glanced at him, and the two left the room to go outside for some quiet.

Their school was like most of the other traditional Japanese schools, in that it was large, had a very nice courtyard and three floors. The carpet and lino on each of these floors changed colours from dark red, to dark blue, to dark green, to indicate the level of high school that they were in. Itachi was on the top floor, being in his final year, and had a good view of the scenery. But he had eaten under a certain tree every day from the time he had been at the school, and he headed towards it when he got out of the building.

Sitting under it with a small sigh that only Sasori would notice, Itachi turned towards the other and put his bento to the side, looking at him. Sasori looked back, and stated, "You were looking at that new teacher rather intently."

"I know." Itachi answered, and thought back for the millionth time on that strange sensation that had gone though his chest at that point. "I felt something from him."

"What was it?" Sasori asked, taking a bite of his own lunch.

Itachi did not answer for a moment, but he said, "a twinge."

Sasori smirked and said, "Wasn't love at first sight, was it?" The red head had made a subtle point once that the Uchiha could very well be gay, not that Itachi had paid that comment any mind because, despite being as serious as Itachi, he could certainly be very childish when it came to arguments. The way he acted around Deidara was a clue to this.

"Definitely not." Itachi shook his head, "but it was something. Like I've met him before."

"Maybe your dad thought he was brilliant and invited him over once?" Sasori said, and watched as Itachi finally started on his own lunch.

The Uchiha thought this through, but eventually shook his head no. "I've never physically met him before. But … I don't know." Itachi occupied himself with eating his lunch before wrapping his box up and standing. "I'll see you in class." This required research.

Sasori waved him off, and the Uchiha gathered his books and walked away. He thought he might get a head start on his homework and get that over and done with before he went back to class. He walked down the passage ways until he ended up at the library, looking around. Good, not many people. Opening his books that he had taken outside with him as well, he did all of the drills asked in his subjects, and got that finished within twenty minutes. Once done, he went onto the computer nearby and searched up information on Hoshigaki Kisame …

Computers in the school contained files about the students and teachers at the place in question, but you could only access them with special permission … or via hacking. And Itachi did it the latter way. He was not someone who pretended to be a good boy, after all, despite being a favourite among the teachers at the school. He would go many lengths to get the information he needed, and after a couple of minutes of tweaking the system and his own settings, he pulled up Kisame's profile.

Name: Hoshigaki Kisame  
Height: 195 cm  
Weight: 83.1 kg  
DOB: March 18  
Sex: Male  
Blood Type: AB  
Home location: Yokohama (current is Tokyo)  
Qualification/s: Teaching license, First aid level 3, bi lingual in Japanese and English

Itachi frowned when he didn't find anything that was really of use to him, but he did find it interesting that the man previously lived outside of Tokyo. He had no accent in his voice … and that he was bi lingual. But those were practically irrelevant when it came down to what he wanted to find out.

Hell, he didn't even know what information he was looking for.

Being that the library was a quiet place, when the door opened and closed it was fairly noticeable. Therefore, when the door opened a while after Itachi had entered, his eyes flickered up briefly before going back down to his research, but they went back up rather violently when he realised who it was.

Deidara, possibly the only one in the school who would intentionly cause a catastrophe if it inspired him enough, was walking toward the computers. However, he was also known as the best scouter for information on other people, with the exception of their Geology teacher, Zetsu. But the downside to that is –

"Hey, Itachi-chan!!" Deidara carelessly threw his arms around the other's neck as the ebony haired genius tensed at the physical contact. Apart from his family and occasionally Sasori's pat on the shoulder, Deidara was the only one who dared to touch him. For the reason that Itachi became incredibly volatile when people laid their hands on him. He supposed it was just how he was raised…

"Deidara…" he growled as the blonde looked at his screen, taking no notice of Itachi's stiff posture and rapidly depleting patience. "Get. Off. Me."

"Hmm? Why are you looking up Hoshigaki-sensei?" Deidara said, again ignoring the other's tenseness and obvious anger. He blinked at the screen, and then frowned, "are you looking for information, un?"

Another thing that annoyed Itachi. That stupid habit Deidara had of ending everything he said with 'un'. He pushed the blonde off with a glare and said, "It is of no concern to you."

Deidara finally stepped back and had a large grin on his face, saying "Of course not, but there is far better sources of information than the school's archive, un."

"Keep it down," Itachi hissed, his eyes sweeping over the library. Luckily, no one was paying them any attention, for who were in the place currently. The Uchiha stayed silent for a moment, and then said. "So you have a better way?"

"Of course! I can get information on anything-"

"Then find out who he is."

Deidara stared. Itachi smirked, and stood up, walking past and whispering, "I dare you, Deidara-san …"

For whatever reason Itachi didn't know about, when it came to the blonde, he could not turn down a dare from him. In the same respect that Deidara could not refuse a dare from him. It was a brilliant way to get what he wanted, but he had to admit to being guilty of doing a few very stupid things when the blonde had dared him to do at the previous school end of year party. And even before then, Itachi just could not back down from a dare that the other set for him, and he had no idea why Deidara affected him in such a way. It was their own rarely played game, but it led him to avoiding the blonde at all costs … but some situations needed to be dealt with … effectively.

Deidara looked at him when Itachi walked out, and smirked evilly, "I am getting you for that, Itachi-san, un."

* * *

After lunch, Itachi met back up with Sasori. The red head turned to look at his friend and asked, "Did you find anything?" 

"No." Itachi paused, and then with a smirk, "Deidara's on it."

Sasori restrained himself from rolling his eyes with extreme difficulty. "Do you honestly think he would find anything that is useful?"

"Not really. But if he does, that is a plus." Itachi went to his home room to fetch his books for his next class; the highest maths class that was available at the school. Itachi didn't really have any ambitions currently, but he was good at maths. But he had mostly taken the class because Sasori had, and since he didn't particualy care about which maths he did as long as it was challenging, he chose the one where at least he'd have someone to turn to should he have a problem.

Class proceeded smoothly from then onwards, and Itachi focused completely on his school work and only a tiny portion on the weird feeling that had happened that morning, and the man who caused it. But there was nothing more he could do, and so, he let it be.

When they returned to home room, it was to find the new teacher waiting to send them home. It was then that Itachi faltered, looking at the blue haired man, and suddenly wondering if that colour was natural. And also, once more ... who he was.

Kisame looked over at the Uchiha, and Itachi blinked as those gold eyes looked at him. The older man could not have held his gaze for longer than a second, and yet, to Itachi it felt much longer.

After his teacher looked away, Itachi blinked before shaking his head violently. He should not be having these kind of reactions, at all.

And he should not feel familiar with a stranger.

* * *

When the bell rang that signalled home time, the Uchiha walked to the gates with Sasori. He was about to ask the red head if he wanted to go to the cafe nearby but found the other's attention averted. As was a large number of male students at the site before them. 

A pretty, tall lady with long black hair was walking away from the school grounds, wearing a deep purple top and matching skirt and several books under her arm. Said lady was their chemistry teacher, Orochi, and had both destroyed the hearts of many men by crashing their dreams of ever wooing the snake charmer herself.

Sasori found himself staring as she came up to him, and said, "Hello, Sasori-kun. Finished for the day?" The red head could only nod.

Orochi only smiled slightly, saying, "Have a nice day, you two." She headed away from them, not speaking any more. Sasori followed her every move, and only awoke when he heard a quiet snicker from next to him. The red head snapped around and glared, saying, "Shut it, Itachi."

"Admit it, you like her." Itachi said with a smirk that was full of triumph in knowing that, no matter what Sasori said, he knew he was right.

"I do not!" The normally calm teenager was rather flustered, "I just find her to be very interesting,-"

"-As well as pretty." Itachi added.

Sasori folded his arms and looked away, muttering, "shove it, Uchiha."

Itachi only let out a small chuckle as their bus arrived.

* * *

When Itachi returned home, he greeted his mother with a nod and partial smile before going up to his room and flopping on his bed. Normally he'd get straight into homework ... but today was different. He was thinking about everything that had happened in his one day at school, and scowling at the ceiling. _  
_

_'I shouldn't be thinking about that damn teacher,'_ Itachi thought, glaring at the off white ceiling of his room. _'But even so ...' _

His thoughts were interrupted by a meow, and Itachi looked to the side to see his cat come into the room, tail held high as the pet noticed his master had returned. Itachi patted the bed and the cat jumped up onto it, and the young man picked him up, saying, "What do you think, Sharingan? Should I trust this teacher?" 

Sharingan purred.

Itachi blinked at that, before smiling slightly and saying, "You've never been wrong before, so I guess I should trust him." He scratched the cat behind the ears.

And indeed, Sharingan seemed to be able to judge who a good person was and who a bad person was, and it was very clear that when the cat had followed him down the street once and saw Sasori for the first time, he had let the red head pat him. The cat normally allowed no one but Itachi to touch him, so the young man knew that Sasori could be trusted. This had been four years ago, when Itachi had only just met the other. It was then that Itachi decided Sharingan must have very acute sensors, and that he could trust those censors when it came to people. This was the first time since Sasori that Sharingan had purred at the thought of someone in Itachi's life. And so, the Uchiha decided to go along with it.  
After all, this was Sharingan.


	3. The artful Blond

_This took a little longer than expected. Sorry about that! Enjoy XD_**  
**

**The artful blond**

_The clash of blades ... the tingle of chakra running though me. I look over to see my partner fighting ... we always fight together ..._

_Always ..._

_The chiming of a bell._

Itachi woke up suddenly, as if someone had shouted in his ear. He blinked and looked over at his clock to see that it was 20 past six in the morning, ten minutes before he normally woke.

Strange.

Itachi sat up and tried to remember that dream he had been having. It had been a weird dream; full of whirling colours, shapes and sounds, and voices. He remembered the dream had been from his eyes ... and he had been holding a strange, dagger like weapon in one hand. He had also worn a ring ...

And red. The colours red and blue. Bright scarlet and sky blue were the colours that had surfaced in his mind, but they made no sense. But ... there was something familiar about it ...

He shook his head rapidly before looking back at the clock. 6: 31. He had been sitting there thinking for 11 minutes.

Getting up then, he went to take his usual morning shower and get dressed. Sharingan came in as usual and meowed at him, his tail waving slightly once. Itachi smiled faintly and bent down to pick his cat up, and went down stairs to breakfast.

* * *

At the bus stop that morning, Itachi watched the cars go by as Sasuke talked about his first day in junior high school. It had been very interesting, Sasuke said, and he was glad to be with Naruto. Although Itachi didn't show it, he was very glad his brother had had a decent time at the new school. He didn't doubt it though, since the boy was very good looking and most girls would probably swarm on anyone who would bash the pretty kid up. Itachi had to snicker at that ...

Getting onto the bus, he sat next to his best friend as usual, and they went to school. They talked quietly on the way, and when they got out and walked to the gates, Itachi had to suddenly stop himself from throwing up his breakfast as someone (and he had a very good idea who) jumped onto his back, saying, "Itachi-chan!"

"DEIDARA." Itachi growled evilly. "OFF."

Deidara jumped off and avoided a swipe that Itachi aimed at him, and then passed a thick envelope into his chest before saying, "I did your dare, now you need to do mine!"

Itachi took the envelope and continued to glare at the energetic blonde, and looked down at the thick paper. He supposed he did owe Deidara a dare, but perhapes he could hold it off for a while longer ...

"Not yet," Itachi smirked, "I need to look at this before I decide if it's worth one."

"Heh," Deidara reached over and managed to ruffle Itachi's hair and run off, saying, "I'm not known as the greatest information gatherer for nothing, Ita-chan! I'll be calling you tonight!"

Itachi straightened his hair with a silent huff and _glared_ heatedly after the blonde. He just did not know his limits, that one ...

Sasori tried his best not to laugh, but it was very hard.

* * *

Itachi had his first lesson of PE today, he noticed as he checked his time table. It made him think about that teacher and that made him annoyed that he kept thinking about him. It wasn't like he was something special, was it?

The envelope in his pocket felt very real as he continued to walk slowly to his first class of the day, English. Sasori watched him and wondered the same thing, but for a different reason. He had never seen Itachi act like this over someone he had just met. It kind of reminded him of when he met Deidara.

Speaking of the blonde ... he looked up ahead to see the blonde and three much larger teenagers leering at him, wanting to pick a fight. Deidara only smirked and threatened them with something, before all of them paled and ran off. The blonde giggled and looked around behind him, winking at the two before running off to his art class, and Itachi inwardly thought that those bullies did not seem to know Deidara's little secret, which was a very well known one now.

* * *

_Back in the 7th year of Itachi's school life, when he had only really gotten used to the school, Itachi met Deidara. Although the blonde had been in his year level, he had never seen or payed attention to him until his art class. Herefore, rather shocking to discover Deidara's presence in his second semester, bounding over to him and grinning like a maniac._

_"Hello, Itachi!"_

_The student blinked, looking at Deidara like the boy was an alien. For one, he had adressed the Uchiha by his first name, with no suffix, and was ... well, BLOND. The fact that he had been adressed so casually made him frown, and he said, "What?"_

_"Hee ... I know you! Your father is in relation to our company!" He looked cheerful, but to Itachi, he supposed that smile was the blond's default expression. "Lets be friends!"_

_Itachi really didn't have time to answer that, as some of the larger boys from the class whispered behind their hands, looking at Deidara. Their teacher came in at that point, and the class was in progress._

_At the end of the class, the blonde was thrown into the wall by some bullies from the class above his own. Apparently, most of the rather ill tempered students knew that Deidara's family was rich, and regularly tried to rob the boy. Most of the time, they got away with it, which, at this point when Itachi was shocked to see this display, wondered how the blonde could stand to be cheerful all the time._

_It made the Uchiha respect him just a little, for having that strength._

_When the bullies had finished, and Deidara sat on the floor, regaining his breath and dignity, he was rather surprised when Itachi held out his hand to pull the boy up. Deidara stared, but accepted it, and Itachi pulled him to his feet._

_"You have to stop them from doing that," The Uchiha said simply, looking at the fresh bruise on the other's throat from where the bully had grabbed him. He was not up to giving advice to an almost complete stranger, but he did not enjoy the sight of someone so defenceless get beaten up. Fights should be with people who were strong._

_Deidara sighed and rubbed his throat, and said, "Easier said than done. I'm not exactly strong."_

_Itachi sighed and slung his bag over his shoulder, and turned to go, "You're good with clay. Stick their chairs to the floor or something." He headed off to his next class then, leaving the blonde behind._

_"Clay, huh?" Deidara said, thinking, and then an idea was born, and he grinned evilly._

* * *

_Sneaking into the classrooms at lunch time were hard, as sometimes there were seniors there finishing off their work. But since it was the start of the semester, Deidara had the luck of finding the art room empty. Going over to his bullies art projects (figures made of clay), he stuffed the holes at the bottom up with extra clay, doing it to several of them, covering all of the jerks who picked on him. It wasn't the form of revenge he thought Itachi had invisioned, but he had to get them back in a way that wouldn't ruin his reputation with the teachers, and also teach them a lesson._

_Because Itachi was right. He _was_ good with clay._

_When everyone came back into the classroom, they had put their clay models in the kilm. The teacher said that after they had been fired, the models could be painted or glazed. Deidara had to grin evilly inwardly at the thought, and walked rather contently out of the class that day._

_In his hands were two balls of clay._

* * *

_Art class the next day started with teachers running in and out of the classroom, looking at the mess. The kilm had blown all the artworks to bits, and the teacher, fuming, looked though the rubble to see which foolish person had disobeyed her instructions and how it could have passed her noticed (when she had checked all the sculptures earlier to make sure they were hollow.)_

_Finding it, the bullies were all put in detention, but not before they all tried to blame the blonde for it, but Deidara could not be found guilty when there was no proof he had even touched the models. He had said, with his blue eyes shining and with that innocent look he pulled off so easily that he had not done it, and the art teacher believed him. After the class they then tried to attack the blonde, but as he had prepared for it, he threw a blot of clay at one of them, hardened from the overnight exposure to air, and it hit square in the other's nose. Luckily the teacher didn't see it, and Deidara ran off, victory assured._

_"I shall call you Itachi-chan now!" Deidara said later on joyfully, hugging a very tensed and resigned Uchiha._

* * *

"Itachi?" Sasori pulled him out of the memory of the blonde with the sound of his voice, and Itachi blinked, shaking his head. He moved forward then to go to their english class, and Sasori followed.

English was taught by Yuuhi Kurenai, a lady who had studied overseas as well as in Japan to become bi-lingual. As she talked about how to translate some of the much harder words that came with this level, Itachi couldn't help but wonder. How did Kisame become bi-lingual when he was only 25?

He didn't think any longer on it as he was trying to concentrate. After he had noted the homework that needed to be done and the date to complete it by, Itachi put his diary away. He packed up his books as the bell rang and left the room to be greeted with laughter, and some girls giggling as they talked to ...

Hoshigaki Kisame?

"And so you can teach swimming too, sensei?" One of the girls asked.

Kisame seemed rather embarassed at all the attention from the girls, and scratched the back of his head, and answered, "Yes, of course."

The girls squealed at that, and Kisame slowly moved away, saying that he had to speak with the principal about something, and turned to go. He missed the dissapointed looks the girls gave him, and his eyes turned to Itachi, who was watching him intently.

The Uchiha froze as Kisame came over and looked at him curiously, wondering if he should excuse himself and go to lunch like everyone else. However, the teacher blinked and said, "Is your name Uchiha Itachi?"

Itachi looked up at the man, blinked and nodded, wondering why he had asked.

Kisame smiled then (Itachi stared,) and said, "Oh good, I caught up with you. Just so you know, the class will be outside on the running track, not inside one of the classrooms today. Do you have your PE gear with you?"

Itachi nodded again. He always kept it in his locker anyway unless it needed to be washed, and since it was a new year, it was of course, clean. And why is it he couldn't seem to use his voice in front of this man.

Kisame smiled and said, "Good! I'll see you after lunch." Waving off, he continued to where he was going in the first place before those girls had bothered him.

Itachi watched him go, and couldn't help but feel slightly elated. He had had a conversation with this mysterious person, and it seemed like he was just a normal guy. Maybe now he could forget about him?

_The chiming of a bell ..._

Itachi heard it. The bell from his dreams.

It came from Kisame.


	4. The envelope, the race

_Hello again :) is working again, yay:P Anyway, I bring you the next chapter. This chapter only has one japanese word you need to learn, which is __"Shinaide!", meaning "Don't die!". I'm not sure of the spelling, so if there are any Japanese savvy people out there, feel free to correct me.  
_

**The envelope; the race**

Itachi was wearing his PE gear after lunch. It consisted of shorts and a polo shirt, plus his runners. Itachi didn't really like having his body on show for ogling by the fan girls who happened to be watching, but the PE uniform just happened to be made for that. At least the winter wear had pants ...

Not many people took PE this high up. Most who did took it for the exercise part or learning about the body, or there were also others who were serious about sport, which Itachi liked. It made him feel more comfortable not to be around lazy slobs who would only slow the class down.

Kisame smiled as the entire class gathered, and when they all settled, he began, "Welcome to PE. My name is Hoshigaki-sensei, and I'll be instructing you through the year. We'll be doing mostly physical parts, but there is a written component that must be completed as well. So I hope everyone has fun in this class and tries their best!"

The class all responded with an enthusiastic "Hai!" and Kisame grinned wider. Then he got his students to start with some warm up exercises before doing anything else. He was impressed that all of the students there knew how to do them (as expected from a senior class,) and then he got them all to get into groups of five for a speed test.

When it came time for Itachi to run, he hid a grin. This was what he liked... adrenaline rushes of the sport... he crouched as Kisame put the whistle to his lips and blew, and Itachi was off. A dash of one hundred metres was always a good way to burn off some excess energy, and also to test one's skills. Itachi kept himself fit over the holidays, and he came over the finish line well before the others.

Kisame, needless to say, was surprised.

He looked at the time he had recorded and then back at the teenager, who had his hands on his knees for a moment before he straightened up, panting lightly. The others crossed the line after him, but Kisame's interest was with Itachi at the moment. He wondered just how gifted the Uchiha was ...

After doing some more exercise the bell rang, and Itachi went to leave before Kisame called him back. The Uchiha inwardly froze, wondering what he could possibly want.

"Uchiha-san, you're an amazing runner!" Kisame said with what seemed to Itachi to be a customary smile. "I was wondering -- there's some interstate competitions coming up if you'd like to enter them."

"Competitions?" Itachi blinked, looking up at the blue haired man.

"Yes." Kisame pulled out a piece of paper that turned out to be a letter, sent to him by the athletics committee. "They are looking for runners from this school, and you look like someone who could easily pass their requirements."

Itachi looked over the letter, and thought about it. He supposed it would be fun, and it beat having to join an after school club if he was training ... he handed it back to Kisame and said, "Will it interfere with my homework?"

Kisame shook his head, "I doubt it, unless you want to do some training with me for it and are willing to stay back an hour or so after school..." He looked thoughtful, as if he was just saying his plan out loud without any real conviction.

"Training? With you?" Itachi looked at the man and wondered if he was serious.

Kisame scratched the back of his head and said, "I suppose I qualify for it, don't I?"

Itachi blinked, and found that a chuckle escaped from his throat without his permission. This teacher ... who the hell was he?! "I suppose so."

Kisame chuckled in return and then turned to go, saying with a wave, "Then, I'll see you after school from tomorrow onwards?"

Itachi nodded, and Kisame walked off.

_The chiming of a bell._

Itachi blinked as the ringing sound was heard again. He watched as Kisame walked, and understood suddenly that somehow, the sound came from him. He was about to call the teacher back when Sasori came over and asked if he wanted to get changed now. Itachi blinked, and nodded, still looking at the back of his teacher. It was all incredibly sudden, and again, he asked himself for what seemed like the hundredth time, who was this man?

The clash of blades ... the tingle of chakra running though me. I look over to see my partner fighting ... we always fight together ...

* * *

_We have always been together since we joined. He was someone I could trust ... eventually with my life._

_Don't die on me!_

Itachi woke up.

His heart was racing as he looked over at his clock. It was just past 2 am in the morning.

A startled hiss came out from under his blanket, and Itachi jumped as Sharingan squirmed out, looking like he was ready to kill his master, and he shook himself before curling up at the end of Itachi's bed again.

Putting a hand up to his forehead and sighing, he mulled his mind over the dream he had had. It had felt as real as the last dream he had, but in this one, he had heard his voice echo in his own mind the clear message, shouted to the person who Itachi could only describe as blue. With a black cloak, the same as Itachi wore in the dream ...

But those words, 'don't die on me!' made more of an impact on him than he had originally thought.

He was not the kind to say things like that. Even at his grandfather's death, he had not shed a tear. But his voice in that dream had sounded so emotional, Itachi would have doubted the voice to be his if it wasn't in the deep, rich tones that he was renown for. That, and it was in a strange dialect…

Itachi grabbed the glass of water by his bedside and drank half of it. Pondering dreams at 2 am in the morning was not something he really needed right now. What he needed was sleep. But it was disturbing ... and as he pulled the covers back over him, his own voice echoed in his mind, panic stricken and scared.

_"Shinaide!"  
_

* * *

Sasori stared when he saw Itachi flump next to him on the bus that morning, looking tired. Itachi never looked really tired in the morning, and it was a surprise to the red head. Itachi closed his eyes and blocked out the world around him, and Sasori decided to leave him like that for 5 minutes before asking what was wrong.

Black eyes stared at him before shaking his head, saying, "I had another dream. I woke up at 2 am last night because of it."

"Really? That's unusual for you."

"Yeah ..." Itachi sighed and closed his eyes, rubbing his face. "I'm tired."

"Take a nap at lunch." The red head offered.

"Hn."

* * *

When lunch time arrived, Itachi had claimed the comfy sofa in the common room for senior students and promptly fell into a light sleep. Maths had almost killed him, as normally he would deal with it fine, but the sleep he needed had made it a little harder to process the information that he needed, and had left him drained and in need of a good rest.

While he slept, he vaguely registered the footsteps and sounds of chatter around him, and then it left as everyone who used the room left. It was warm outside, and most people would be enjoying what was left of the autumn sun while they could. Therefore Itachi was rather surprised when someone tapped him on the shoulder, and he woke up, only to groan and roll over when he saw who it was.

"That's not nice, un!" Deidara said, his finished bento hanging in one hand and an apple in the other. "Have you looked in the envelope yet?"

The envelope. Itachi had forgotten all about it in the events of the day before. The white paper was sitting hidden in his draw, untouched, and Itachi shook his head, saying, "No, I have not."

"Well hurry! I want to give you a dare, un!" The artist scolded, and a voice at the door said, "Leave him be."

"Danna!" Deidara ran over to Sasori when he walked in though the door, who hastily got out of the way of the blond when the artist tried to hug him. After dodging him, Sasori came over to Itachi (who had sat up by then) and said, "Have a good sleep?"

Itachi nodded, rubbing his eyes. He blinked as Sasori handed a book to him, and the red head smirked.

"I saw you about to drop your head on the desk in maths. Take my workbook as reference tonight. I've already done my homework."

Itachi smiled, nodding, "Thankyou."

Deidara looked between the two of them, back and forth, before he latched onto Sasori's neck, grinning slyly, "Ooooh! You two timer you!"

Sasori looked at the blond and tried to move, but the darn idiot was clingy, and he demanded, "What do you mean?!"

"Crushing on Itachi AND Orochi ... you naughty boy!" Deidara laughed as Sasori lunged at him, shouting about how he did NOT have a crush on his best friend.

Itachi watched the ruckus with the two and sighed. If he didn't know that Sasori was straight, he would assume they were married.

* * *

The next two classes came and went, and when it was time to go home, Itachi waved Sasori goodbye and went to get his PE clothes to change. It was rather comical to think that this man who he'd just met was now going to be his trainer. Itachi was not sure what to make of it all, but then again, he loved competing in competitions to test his abilities, and to find new rivals. As of yet, he had not found anyone who could beat him, since even Sasori was not faster than he was.

And if Kisame had taken the times of all of the students, then it meant that Itachi was currently the fastest. Unless the new teacher had an interest in him … but that was something Itachi doubted. He did not come across as unfair…

Itachi shook all these thoughts aside when he came down to the small amphitheatre where Kisame was, and in his hands he held a sharp katana that he was twirling around with precise skill. He was practicing.

The sun shone on the blade, and as Itachi watched, Kisame sliced a petal from the nearby sakura tree in half. And when he did that, he heard the sound of the bells again. He had to ask … what in the would was it?

Kisame looked up as the split petal fluttered to the ground to see the young man he was going to train at the top of the amphitheatre watching him practice. He grinned and waved an arm, saying, "Uchiha-san! Come on down."

Itachi blinked as the light wind ruffled his hair, and walked down to the bottom to join the man (who was putting the katana away) and stared pointedly at the weapon asking, "Why are you practising here?"

He had not read in his profile that Kisame had a sword license.

"Oh, this?" Kisame chuckled. "I forgot that most PE teachers have swords licenses this day and age, so I'm practising. I almost have it, but I have to pass the exam this Sunday. So I wanted to make sure my control was still strong."

Itachi nodded, thinking that yes, most teachers did teach fencing in Tokyo. It made him wonder how Kisame could not have known that since he was Japanese … but he did not question it. Instead, he blinked and said, "So, what do I do for this training anyway?"

"Basically keeping you fit." Kisame said, pulling out a notepad and pen from his shirt pocket. "I want to make sure I monitor your progress so that I can make any notes for areas to improve in. Just training." Kisame shrugged.

Itachi nodded again, and then started to stretch, saying, "How long?"

"Half hour at most." Kisame smiled.

"Okay." Itachi continued to stretch, and Kisame made notes. The session went about like that for a while, and Itachi did two more speed tests and Kisame took down more notes, and after 20 minutes of tests, asking Itachi what his diet was and his current weight, nodded and then smiled.

"Well, Uchiha-san, I'm impressed." Kisame finished up, looking over his student with a smile. "You've certainly been taught well by your previous teacher. There aren't many improvements that need to be made, and you only need to get a bit fitter."

Itachi felt a surge of pride at that, since he had always known that his previous teacher was a good one. It was nice to hear that from Kisame somehow, as if the man was someone like a great athlete himself, even though he was not. Itachi did not understand why he thought this way about this man, but eventually said, "Thank you." And bowed slightly.

Kisame chuckled and turned to go, but then Itachi heard it again, the sound of that calming, beautiful bell chime that was both amazing and eerie. After Kisame took a couple of steps, Itachi called out, "Wait!"

Kisame stopped, turning to Itachi with a curious expression, and Itachi jogged over and asked, "That sound…"

"What sound?" Kisame blinked.

"The bell." Itachi replied with a serious look on his face, hoping that it was not his imagination and he was not about to make a fool of himself. "Every time I've seen you, I've heard the sound of a bell."

Kisame thought about this for a moment, and then a sign of recognition passed over his face, "Ah, I think I know what it is, but I'm surprised," He dug around in his pocket as he looked at Itachi, "You're the only one whose heard it …"

He pulled out his set of car keys, and on it was a very old bell that had been expertly restored. And even though it still looked old, it was shiny still, and the value of it had not been decreased. Itachi was surprised Kisame held it on a mere keychain as the older man passed it to the student.

Itachi held it up and moved it, and the sound it issued was the same he had heard when he was near Kisame, but more disturbingly, in his dreams. "Where …?" Itachi looked at the man as he took the key chain back.

"It's been in my family for a long time." Kisame said, looking fondly at it. "I carry it on my keychain because it gives me good luck. That and the sound it makes is very soothing, especially in Tokyo's traffic."

Itachi smiled slightly at that, and nodded. He had not gotten his license yet, but he knew how bad the traffic was. He bade Kisame a goodbye, and then went inside to change. He needed to take his uniform home for a wash too …

* * *

Itachi dropped his bag and then flumped into his desk seat, sighing at the feel. He was still a bit more tired than usual from the strange sleeping hours as well as the exercise from the practise session that day. Still, he opened his books and spent the next couple of hours studying and doing his homework, his cat, walking in to jump on his lap and keep him company, curled up and purring softly. Mikoto came in about an hour and a half later, smiling at her elder son and saying, "Working hard? How come you were home later? Did you join a club?"

Itachi turned then (Sharingan rolling over and almost glaring at his master for making him move) and took the plate of cookies and glass of milk from his mother, saying, "My new PE teacher is giving me some training for the upcoming athletics competition."

"That's nice of him." Mikoto smiled, and then said, "Will he be training you often?"

"Every second night he said. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday." Itachi bit into one of the biscuits, inwardly pleased at the taste. "He says it would be plenty of training on top of my homework, and since every night was a bit much, we agreed to that."

Mikoto sighed fondly and said, "Always working too hard. Make sure you eat all of those." She pointed to the plate, and then left. Itachi had to admit he was very fond of his mother; she didn't coddle him like some mothers did, and although she had her own set of rules (Like not leaving the table until their plate was clean) they were reasonable enough that Itachi was happy to abide by them, and his mother always cooked food he loved.

A few more hours passed, and Itachi was ready for bed, his cookie plate clean and glass empty, now sitting on the sink, washed. He was about to climb into bed before he noticed that his draw was slightly open from where he had not shut it properly that morning, and he stood up, going to the draw to pull out the envelope. It felt just as heavy in his hands as when he had first received it, and as he was about to open it, Sharingan came in with a meow, making Itachi sigh.

Maybe it wasn't the right time to find out who Kisame really was.


	5. It's like, not love

_Hey everyone! Sorry for the long gap. TAFE kicked in alarmingly and I had to focus there. Only a couple of other Japanese words you'll need to know:_

_Shishou – Highly respected teacher or training master; the latter meaning being true here._

_Chishukyo – Hidan's last name._ _Means Dark Messiah. _

_Itohadaka – Kakuzu's last name._ _Means Thread of fate._

_Jashin_ – _Hidan's religion._

_There is also a reference to the Australian culture (my own) that people might not understand. A 'Typical Australian' dress code is a navy blue singlet, a pair of very short denim shorts called 'stubbies', thongs (flip flops) zinc across the nose, a can of beer in one hand and a sausage in bread in the other (called a 'snag' here). You'll see why this is used in the story ;)_

_This is the end to the introduction of the story, now. All of the characters I need to use have been introduced, and after this chapter, things will get interesting ;)  
_

* * *

**It's like, not love**

Several months later, Itachi found himself thrown into the cold months of late Autumn, and it was getting close to the mid year exams. Fortunately, this meant that half of the knowledge he had pounded into his brain for the last 5 months of school would not be necessary in the final end of year exam, as they had already been tested on it.

However, while some subjects did not have this exam, all of the subjects that Itachi took (minus PE) did have a mid year.

The Uchiha had spent one night too many up too late to study, and therefore, it was inconceivable that one day, late in November, he found himself bed ridden with a cold.

Curling miserably into the bed covers, he coughed and took the mug his mother gave him, glaring evilly out the window at the snow that had gathered there. If it wasn't for the damn COLD and evilness that was being sleep deprived, Itachi would be able to go to school.

"The exams are coming up," He whispered to his mother then, glaring at the cup, and he almost shook away the hand that stroked his hair, embarrassed.

"I know they are, but you need to rest now. And this will be a good lesson not to push yourself so hard."

Itachi sighed out, managing to sit up and drink his drink, before handing the empty cup back to his mother and curling under the covers again, which Mikoto pulled back up and over his shoulders. It was pointless to argue. His mother was a force to be reckoned with on occasion.

* * *

The day rolled by with Itachi managing to regain some of his strength, enough that he could sit at his desk and do some study. His mother came in every hour or so to check on him, and she made sure that her son drank lots of water and ate every last bite of his food. Over the day, Itachi slowly began to feel better, and when dinner time came by, Itachi was up and moving about. His father came home from his own work, and in a rare show of caring, checked in on him before dinner. 

He opened the door to his oldest son's room, looking in, and Itachi turned around from tying his hair up to stare. "Father?"

Fugaku looked rather awkward, but he said simply, "Are you feeling better now?"

Itachi nodded, and he sighed, saying, "Please take better care of yourself. I don't want you passing out next time."

Itachi nodded again, and understood that this was all he was going to get as far as affection from his father went. Fugaku left and Itachi stood, deciding that he was glad at least that his father had mellowed out ever so slightly after their argument.

When Itachi finished his dinner, he leaned back in his chair. Today was a Friday, so hopefully he would be able to call Sasori and ask for the work that he had missed.

The doorbell rang, however, and the red head stepped though, looking at his sick friend with a smirk. "Hey, Itachi."

The teenager blinked, the surprise evident on his face. "Sasori … how come…?"

Sasori's answer was holding out a pile of papers. "I figured you'd want some notes from today. Oh, and Hoshigaki-sensei wanted to pass on a note as well when he found out I was going to your house."

Itachi took the bundle of paper, and the note. He blinked and read it,

_Hope you are feeling better. _

_Training will commence once _

_you're_ _feeling well enough._

_Hoshigaki-sensei._

_P.S – I'll bring more dango for you._

Itachi smirked and shook his head. Since his teacher had found out he had a liking towards sweet foods, but rarely gave Itachi any, since he didn't want to kill the other's diet with sweets. Even so, Itachi appreciated it.

* * *

On Monday, Itachi greeted the new day as usual, and went to find Kisame. He talked to the blue haired man about their training, and that he was fine to resume it. He only smiled and was glad that the Uchiha was feeling better. 

As the lessons went though the morning, Itachi left the room to go and have his lunch in the yard when he heard the sounds of very familiar shouting.

"…now get the hell out!"

"Oh don't be like that, dear Kakuzu, I was only being helpful!"

"The only thing you're helpful for is getting on my nerves, _which isn't helpful_!"

"Fine, Jashin shall smite you to hell. See if I care."

Itachi watched with morbid amusement as Chishukyo Hidan stormed out of the room into the hallway, and the teacher he was arguing with, Itohadaka Kakuzu poked his head out and looked tempted to throw an acupuncture needle at his neck. But he retreated back into his office, and Itachi couldn't help but silently chuckle. Sasori and himself shared a look before walking outside, and the red head said, "I can't believe they let those psychos get their teaching licenses'."

"Hn." Itachi said, sitting down under their favourite tree, and he began ticking off his fingers. "They are both obsessive, over thirty, fight a lot, and have a really weird relationship with each other overall."

"Che." Sasori glared at him and took a vicious bite out of his salad roll. "Why is it that this school seems to have weirdo's left right and centre? Had I have known that I would never have transferred to Japan."

Itachi smirked and took a bite of his own lunch, thinking back. Sasori had been born in Ireland, which explained both his pale skin and his bright red hair, but soon after he moved to Chile. Growing up there, his parents died when he was only three, and he then moved to Japan when he was 14 to live with his grandparents (having lived with his cousins until then) Because of that, his Japanese was accented, and made it even harder to get away from the fan girls that constantly bugged both Sasori and Itachi.

"Japan would be strange to you."

* * *

The running finals were drawing closer, and while Kisame kept the same schedule because of Itachi's exams, the Uchiha always frowned at it. Kisame needed to train him everyday, to keep track of his times and to make sure he was fit! And he didn't want to admit that it was because he was growing to enjoy the time he spent with the other teacher.

That was dangerous in itself.

The dreams had not stopped, but they grew longer. He knew by now that the person's eyes he was seeing the dream though was himself, but it didn't explain very much. All he knew is that the other person in his dream was dying, and it was someone he cared a great deal about.

The problem was, who was it? He didn't care for anyone so much as to scream out "Don't die!" Like that …

Still, as he sprinted up the track on a cold, December the first, he panted and shivered. It got dark early now, and as it approached 4pm, the sun was setting already, the cold of the clouds swiftly covering the weak warmth of the sun. It was getting cold and fast, and Itachi didn't want to get sick again.

Kisame came over them and wrapped Itachi in the Uchiha's jacket, saying, "I have good news! You've knocked half a second off your time!"

Itachi looked up at the man, putting his arms though the sleaves and zipping up the jacket. He was warm now; with the running he had done making his blood flow and the jacket that Kisame had given him. He smiled at his teacher then, and nodded, "I'm glad."

"You're in fine shape for the nationals now." Kisame said, and pressed a hot cup of hot chocolate into his hands. "Drink up. Its way too cold now to be wearing shorts outside."

Itachi gratefully accepted the cup and went to sit down next to his teacher, taking a sip. He wondered where he had got it from, before he spotted the thermos next to him "Did you make this?" He left out the 'for me' at the end of his question.

"Yes. I love it." Kisame said with a grin, pouring himself a cup. "I always have."

As Itachi sipped it, he realised it tasted a lot different from the usual hot chocolate he was accustomed to. "It tastes strange …" He said, but it was a GOOD kind of strange.

"It's called 'Milo', an Australian brand." Kisame specified, drinking some himself. "Once I graduated I moved there for 6 years to improve my English, and several things down there got me hooked."

"Oh?" Itachi looked at his teacher as he sighed out, blowing on the hot brew.

Kisame nodded, "Australia is a much more relaxed country than Japan. I went to the northern part, Cains, which has a lot of Japanese tourists there who need translators. I learnt to speak the language, learn about the culture, travel, and also to surf." He chuckled. "Surfing was a doozy to learn."

Itachi almost laughed at the image. Almost. "Did you like it there?"

"Oh yes." Kisame laughed then, pulling out his wallet and handing Itachi a picture, depicting himself between two men, arms around each other and Kisame dressed …. Itachi snorted then, handing the picture back to the teacher as he fought down the urge to laugh.

Seeing Kisame dressed as the typical Australian was really too much to test his willpower.

* * *

The two weeks of mid year exams rolled by, and Kisame halted the training, much to Itachi's annoyance. However, when he actually got down to studying, he was glad. He stayed up until 10pm every night with his nose in the books until his mother ordered him to sleep, and eventually, the exams were over and the winter break could begin. Itachi was relieved when he knew all of the answers to the test, and Sasuke had asked why he always worried so much. His brother was smart.

Itachi always felt the need to push his boundaries, which always ended in him over exerting himself, but in the end left him knowing he could do his best. And now as the winter break set in, he had asked Kisame to do some training for the first couple of days, but the man had demanded that Itachi take the rest of the week off to enjoy the festivals, and the coming of the new year.

Itachi had agreed, if only so he could finally have some fun, even if that was a rare occasion for the Uchiha.

So it was in New Years Eve that he came out of the house dressed in a deep crimson kimono and looking amazing with his family. Sasori was waiting for him, looking dashing in a deep magenta that went quite well with his hair, and it brought out the glimmering highlights that shined gold in the moonlight. Itachi only smiled slightly at him and nodded regally, and Sasori returned it, the two teenagers walking ahead of their parents (or grandparents in Sasori's case) ahead to the festival.

"I didn't know you owned a winter kimono." Itachi said when they got to the festival. Sasori had his fan out and was holding it across his face as a group of girls from their school passed them, and Itachi did the same, both of them looking like upper-class snobs.

"My Grandpa brought it for me," Sasori elaborated and then pointed to a store of dango, "Should we grab a bite to eat?"

"Lets."

* * *

It was when Itachi went to get some dango that he saw a very familiar shock of blue hair on creamy skin, and he blinked, taking his dango before saying hesitantly, "…Hoshigaki-shishou?"

He had changed the honour-fic when the older man had been training him, as it was what he had called his previous teacher. And indeed, Kisame turned around and his eyes widened at the sight. After a split second, Kisame grinned widely.

"Uchiha-san!" He said happily. "What a surprise to see you here!"

"You too …" It seemed that Kisame showed up in odd places, but Itachi didn't seem to mind anymore. He blinked when he realised the older man was wearing a bright blue kimono with wave patterns all over it. He had never expected to see Kisame in a kimono.

Kisame grinned and then said, "Do you want to stay together, or would you prefer to do your own thing?"

Itachi shrugged and said that it was fine, and Sasori did as well. And so, Kisame joined the pair and decided to play a few of the games that were at the festival. It was a lot of fun to be able to be a normal person, the Uchiha thought, and actually smiled at Kisame when the older man offered to buy him some extra dango to eat. They had a good night, and they cheered with everyone else as they greeted the new year at midnight.

Itachi looked over at the blue haired man as Sasori watched the fireworks, and he said, "Do you think I'm ready … for the nationals I mean."

Kisame smiled brightly and nodded, saying, "You'll do just fine, I'm sure of it."

* * *

Early into the new year, the day for the Nationals finally arrived. Itachi paced himself, went though the exercises with that Kisame and his previous teacher had instructed him to do, and ate the correct food that morning for breakfast. Kisame was going to be there as well to support him and get the young man ready for the races.

His father drove him to the arena, and he would have shivered at the bitter cold that was a raw January morning, but dismissed it. He would just have to warm up when he got to the tracks.

The arena, when they got to it, was starting to fill up. Fugaku took a seat in the reserved area of the crowd that had the families of the athletes there, and Itachi left to go to the change rooms of all the athletes to meet Kisame.

The changing room looked like an average sports changing room, like the ones that were seen constantly on TV. There were lockers everywhere and seats that looked like park benches next to them, and Itachi chose one for himself. He looked around for Kisame to arrive, and soon enough, the tall man came over to him with a grin, "All pumped up, Itachi?"

The student nodded and said, "I think so."

"You've done everything you can. You'll be fine," Kisame said, putting a hand on the other's shoulder to try and quell Itachi's nerves. "I'll be in the front row. I'll cheer for you!"

Itachi only looked up with softer eyes, his nerves settled with the presence of the other man. "Thank you, Kisame-Shishou."

He then realised what he had said and gasped, a hand going to his mouth as Kisame looked at him with slight surprise. He had said his teacher's first name, and he was only a student …!

"I am sorry," He bowed low, before he heard Kisame's light chuckle, and felt his hand on his shoulder.

"Just make sure you only say that outside of school," He winked before stepping back, "Now, get out there and royally kick butt, okay?"

Itachi blinked at the casual reply. He had said it because he felt relaxed around Kisame, more so than any other person, and it had slipped out. But for Kisame to dismiss it as he did said more to Itachi than words could ever do, and at first he had hated that he could trust this man so easily. But the world worked in strange ways, and as he watched Kisame wave and walk out of the room, he sighed gently to himself and smiled in his mind.

Even if he hadn't of got the strange feeling when he first met the man, he probably would have ended up liking him anyway. He was cool …

That day, he had managed to run rings around most of the competition, and finished all five of his races with three first places and two seconds, since long distance running was not his stronger point, but he was good at it as well. As he collected his metals in the ceremonies, and when it was all over, he sighed in relief and shivered in the changing room. Even getting changed into his warmer clothes left him shivering until Kisame came over, wrapping his own trench coat around the student, winking and telling him to return it on Monday.

As Itachi went back home to have dinner and to sleep, he tugged the trench coat around his body more, breathing in the scent of his teacher from it.

There was no denying it any longer.

He had a connection with Kisame, and he liked it.


	6. A crushed man

**A crushed man**

_Running though the forest, I jumped down out of the tree and rushed to my partner's side. He was bleeding, badly, and I wondered why I felt so panicked, so very afraid that this man would die on me. _

_The blue skinned man only looked up at me and smiled that smile he only wore for me, and reached up to touch my face, stroking over my skin. He was talking, but I could not hear the words._

_I held his hand as he closed his eyes for the last time, and while I tried to hold it in, I couldn't help but scream._

"_KISAME!!!"_

* * *

Itachi woke up with a startled noise in his throat as something wet hit his cheek. He jumped up and shivered deeply, realising he had left his window open a crack, and it was snowing heavily. He went to the window to shut it, grabbing something off the floor to wrap himself in before jumping back into bed, freezing his butt off. 

The smell of the sea greeted him as he pulled the jacket up to his nose, and realised it was the one that Kisame had leant him until today, Monday. He sighed in relief as the automatic heater came on then, warming up his room and allowing him to leave the jacket off.

His thoughts then wandered back to the dream.

It was the same one that plagued him since the new school year had began, but it seemed even more detailed than usual. He could clearly smell, taste and feel the touch of the things he touched, like how his feet thumped against the wood, and the feel of some kind of energy helping him along. What disturbed him most was that he had felt so very sad; a deep pain had shot though his heart as the hand had fallen from his cheek. He had also noticed that the skin felt slightly rough from the other, and it was blue, the shade of the sky.

There was something disturbingly familiar about that scene, something he couldn't place.

He knew he had shouted a name in his sleep, but as much as he strained his memory, he could not recall the name. He rubbed his forehead and looked at the time, blinking at it. It was a quarter to six, earlier than he would normally rise, but the strain wasn't so bad. It was useless to go back to sleep now.

He looked outside and saw that the snow was still falling very heavily, almost at blizzard levels. It was unlikely that they would have school on a day like this, but he went to take a shower anyway. The hot water would help to wash away the disturbing memories of the dream that woke him far too early.

* * *

As it turned out, the school was out for the day. Itachi was somewhat glad, as he did not like walking in the snow, or where it was cold, for that matter. Instead, he lit a candle in his room and lay back down on his bed, watching the flame flicker.

He was a fire bug.

Ever since he could remember, Sasuke and himself had had a strange attraction to the element. It was as though in another life they had been dragons, or a mythological creature that breathed flame, but then his younger brother did come up with the weirdest of theories. He was the one with imagination in the male part of the family, not him.

Even so, his limited imagination had been stretched far with the dreams and Kisame coming into his life, and he hated the strange dreams and how they felt so real. He refused to acknowledge that the dreams might have been connected to a past life, since that would make him really lose it. And right now he needed to focus on completing high school.

As he sat at his desk and did some studying, he jumped as his mobile phone went off. Nobody really rang his phone, but he kept it there for security as well as taking it to school. That, and sometimes Sasori would call to ask him something, and looking at his phone now, Itachi noticed that it was indeed the red head calling him. So he answered it.

"Hello."

"_Itachi, guess what?! I got a date!"_

"A date?" Itachi blinked, and wondered what his friend was on. Sasori was as concerned for his studies as he was. So he asked, "With who?"

"_Orochi!"_

The Uchiha nearly dropped his phone.

"Sasori …"

"_I really like her. I hope it goes well …"_

"Sasori, she's a teacher."

There was silence on the other end of the line, and Itachi continued, "Just … be careful about it, okay? You might get into trouble."

"…_I will."_

An awkward silence followed, and Itachi broke it by saying, "Is there something wrong?" He had never been one to like cold silences.

"_I thought you would be happy, I guess."_

Itachi sighed out, closing his eyes, "I am happy, but I am more wary for you. Does that make sense?"

There was a small chuckle over the phoneline.

"_Why Itachi, I never knew you cared."_

The Uchiha could tell that Sasori was smiling. It relieved Itachi then, glad that the red head was not mad. And so he said, "Have a good night."

"Will do." And Sasori hung up.

Itachi leaned back against his own chair, and wondered why he could not shake off an uneasy feeling that had settled in his gut and refused to budge.

* * *

The next day, Itachi walked into the warm classroom with relief, shaking off the cold like a cat would ruffle its fur in agitation. The Uchiha did not like to be cold. And what annoyed him was that Sasori was not present on the bus, which made Itachi worry. 

However, it seemed that he had no time to worry about that. The teachers piled so much homework on him that day that he found himself doing some at lunchtime, since of course with Sasori absent, he had no need to go outside, and it was also cold, to add to that.

* * *

Sasori didn't come to school the next day either, and that made Itachi worried enough to take a trip to the other's house after school, feeling rather annoyed. The red head would normally call him or text him or something if there was a problem, and it made the Uchiha angry that Sasori had not done either, but also gravely concerned. It had indeed only been two days, but by nature Itachi had a small possessive streak, and being that Sasori was his only close friend, it came out in full when the other was away without reason. 

And so it was that Itachi found himself knocking on the other's door, waiting for an answer.

The red head answered, blinked at the sight of Itachi, and said, "Itachi … what are-?"

The Uchiha frowned and said, "Where have you been these past few days?"

Sasori blinked at him, and on closer inspection, Itachi noticed that the other's eyes were a bit red, and he also looked a bit ruffled, as if he had just rolled out of bed and not really wanted to go anywhere. Depression was a good word to use, but the Uchiha really didn't want to associate the word with Sasori. As it was, the teen sighed and beckoned Itachi to come inside, and so the other did.

"I'm sorry that I didn't call." Sasori said on a sigh, rubbing his eyes, "But I really haven't wanted to talk to anyone."

"Why?" Itachi couldn't keep the tint of worry out of his voice.

Sasori led Itachi up to his room on the second floor of his house, and they sat on the bed together as Sasori rested his head on one of his hands, and said, "I slept with her."

"What …?" Itachi said, rather surprised. He had not expected Sasori to go that far on a first date.

"I slept with her …" Sasori said, eyes closing, "You know, the date was going really well, and she invited me back to her place. I thought we might make out a bit or something, but one thing led to another and yeah …"

"But …" Itachi could not understand why Sasori would be upset about that. However, the redhead continued to speak.

"As soon as we finished, she left me alone in the bed and I fell asleep, and when I woke up, it was morning …" He grit his teeth and said, "I found out she had gone to another date. I felt … used."

Itachi was frowning and watching his friend, who he had never seen get really upset before. But it was clear this had really hurt him, since he expected better out of the relationship. One didn't even need to be observant to notice that, and that was saying something, as both Itachi and Sasori tended to keep their emotions on a tight leash. And so it was that Itachi moved closer and gently took the other's shoulder, entirely unused to being supportive, but knowing Sasori needed it.

The red head looked at his best friend and showed a flicker of a smile, a whispered 'thanks' against his hand as he closed his eyes again, taking a deep breath. The Uchiha had no idea how much his friendship meant to Sasori, and he smiled at the knowledge that he was lucky enough to have someone like Itachi be there for him, and be a true friend. That was important to someone like him, since he had moved away from his home country to live in Japan.

"Come back to school." Itachi said softly, shaking the other very slightly so Sasori looked at him, "It … it might help you move on a bit?"

Sasori nodded and sighed, saying, "I've been pathetic enough as it is. Getting back to school and getting my work done … it sounds good."

Itachi smiled slightly, saying, "You're not pathetic."

* * *

The next school week that followed, Itachi was very relieved to walk to his classes with Sasori beside him, and they had done a good job at filing a report against Orochi to the principal, saying that Sasori was a victim. And while the sex had been consensual, in Sasori's eyes it was no longer, and when they described everything that had happened to the young man, the principal had no choice. He wanted to keep this story buried, and he did not want the press involved in this at all.

And so it was that a few days later, Orochi packed her bags and left, no dint on her name and no harm done to the school. It was important that she did leave, as the principal did not want any more students falling victim to her rather snakelike charms.

Itachi was very smug about the whole event, and at the end of the long week, he was glad to see Sasori back to his normal self, and schoolwork was going well for him as well. And so it was that Itachi found himself to be very content by Friday, as he dumped his bag on his desk, accidentally knocking something off and making it fall to the ground.

Itachi turned and looked, and then froze.

The envelope.

He reached down and picked it up, staring at it, his heart beat picking up slightly. There was no excuse now, nothing holding him back. He took a breath and let it out slowly, before sitting down on his bed, and looking out the window. The sun was setting; the clouds like radioactive candy floss splattered across a canvas of pale blue's and yellows from the sun. The Uchiha pressed his thumb under the edge of the envelope's opening and pulled the glue apart, running his finger down the length of the paper to the end, effectively opening it.

Reaching inside the opening, he pulled out a wad of papers and put them on the bed, opening one of them after the other. The first one was a copy of Kisame's birth certificate (how Deidara had got a hold of that, he did not know) and an article in the local newspaper, featuring Kisame as he was when he was seven years old, and how he had become the youngest person to master swordsmanship. Another article had Kisame's name circled as his test results for his final examination in year twelve, and also another article that showed Kisame as a star swimmer.

However, the last piece of paper was the one that both freaked him out and answered all of his questions. Everything about Kisame that he wanted to know was on it, and it was one that would change everything Itachi knew about himself, and everyone around him.

* * *

Am I sincerely evil for doing that? XD Okay okay, next chapter shouldn't be too far behind this one :P

And to all reviewers, thankyou very much for your kind feedback:D And especially to Kitsui, as English isn't even her first language and she still enjoys my stories! Thankyou very much :) I hope you continue to read my stories


	7. What is Least expected

**What is least expected**

Itachi breathed. He had to breathe.

But his wide eyes could not look away as he read the piece of paper in front of him.

It was an extract from a book of Konoha's history, the book that very few people had ever read and one that was kept by Deidara's family. Extremely detailed and very old, it was a shock that the blond had managed to even get a copy of it.

On the page was a picture of a man that looked like a shark, with three gills on each cheek, and strange, tiny eyes. He was big, by the looks of it, and also, his skin was blue. Itachi's heart throbbed at the image, and an overwhelming, undescribed sadness came to him suddenly as he looked at the picture, unable to understand why this … this man could make him feel like this.

Even so, he read what it said:

**_Name_**_: Hoshigaki Kisame  
**Height:** 195 cm  
**Weight:** 83.1 kg  
**DOB:** March 18  
**Sex:** Male  
**Blood Type:** AB_

**_Ring:_**_ South _

**_Ring position:_**_ Left ring finger _

**_Defining characteristics:_**_ Shark-like appearance, expert in water-based jutsu, exceptionally large chakra supply, high physical strength and speed, Samehada (sentient, chakra-absorbing sword)._

**_Partner:_**_ Itachi Uchiha _

Itachi's eyes went wide.

"There's no way …" He said, the paper falling from his hands and landing on the bed with a silent pat. He felt nauseous as he numbly read the rest of the page, but he only absorbed words, the ones being most prominent were, 'Hidden Mist', 'samehada', and '…with Uchiha Itachi.'

His heart hurt. His head hurt. He closed his eyes and gripped his hair, falling onto the bed and slipping into unconsciousness, and into dream …

* * *

_I woke up in another world it seemed. Everything around me was black, and when I sat up from the 'ground' I was lying on, I noticed there was a horizon of sorts. A line that marked the edge of the ground and the beginning of sky._

_I heard footsteps come towards me and then stop, and I looked over to see a man dressed in a strange cloak, who looked about as surprised as I felt. _

_He was like my identical twin._

_"Who are …" I asked, but then I already knew the answer. This person was me. How, I didn't know, but he was me …_

_"You should know who I am." The figure said, voice identical to mine, but the accent on it, and the dialect were quite different. It was strange to hear it in my own voice. I stood up and came over to this man, seeing that we were the exact same height._

_But his eyes … they were red. Crimson was the more accurate colour, with three black coma's connected in a black circle on the red. _

_"How … how could you be here and talk to me?" I asked, not even knowing what to say, and instead letting the words come out._

_"I am but a memory, one buried deep in your mind." The other Itachi said, blinking slowly. "I am you."_

_"I guessed as much …" Itachi of the present sighed, and shook his head, looking down. For some reason the ground was getting brighter. "So what does this mean?"_

_The other Itachi didn't answer, and instead, he looked down at the floor as it got brighter, and suddenly, an image came to the surface. It was the same one that Itachi had been constantly dreaming about … and he stared._

_"Watch."__ The past Itachi said, and so they did._

* * *

Itachi ran though the trees, worry gripping him. The fight had been bad, and it had managed to separate him from his partner, and that always made him worry. Kisame was someone that he could trust … rely on. He was the only partner Itachi wished to work with, for more reasons than he cared to admit.

As he jumped down to where he felt a flare of Kisame's chakra, and dropped out of the trees to the ground beside his partner, staring. He was bleeding, and he was breathing heavily. Itachi came over and knelt beside him, feeling his cheek. That was a practice gained from making sure that this Kisame was indeed the real thing, as no one could copy his skin's texture.

"Kisame?" He said grabbing his shoulder and shaking him gently.

The blue man opened his eyes and looked up at his partner, a small smile on his face, "Hey … are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Itachi said, looking over his partner, noticing that he was bleeding, and badly. His eyes went wide as he touched the wound and jolted back, realising. It was right over his heart. "Kisame …"

"There were too many." Kisame said, coughing up blood as he spat it out beside him. "The whole village must've been after us."

The Uchiha stayed silent, watching his partner. No, this wasn't happening. His partner knew better than to leave the world before he did. To leave _him _alone. NO.

"Itachi…"

The younger man looked at his partner, to see Kisame looking at him directly with gold eyes, ones that normally held bloodlust and excitement for battle now held a resigned look, and a kindness he only showed around Itachi. He only smiled a little and said, "You'll be okay."

"What do you mean?" Itachi tried to glare, but he found he couldn't. Besides, his glares had never worked on Kisame anyway.

"Your eyes." Kisame answered, reaching up to trace a finger down the line under one of his partner's eyes, and suddenly, Itachi felt a wetness trail down his face from where Kisame touched him. He blinked and felt more of it. What was this? And Kisame said softly, "You're crying."

The Uchiha jumped back and shook his head, wiping his face, "Stop it. Kisame, get up! We need to report …"

"Itachi."

The smaller man had never felt remorse, or emotional pain from loosing someone. After all, he had never allowed himself to grow really close to a person before.

How could he have gotten close to Kisame, then?

Kisame beckoned him to come closer then, and as Itachi did, the shark man called for his sword, taking the hilt weakly in his own hand. "Samehada … can only be passed to another master by free will …" He took Itachi's hand, and made a small cut on his palm, making the Uchiha jerk.

"Kisame, what are-" Itachi began to ask accusingly, but stopped as the shark nin wrapped Itachi's smaller hand around Samehada's hilt, the blood coating it … and it did not spike the Uchiha's hand.

"I know you may never use it …" Kisame said softly, letting go of the other's hand, "But I prefer if you took it …"

He watched as Kisame sighed out and closed his eyes, leaning back against the tree. He slumped down and fell still, and Itachi felt the chakra disappear.

"Kisame?"

Itachi went closer, nudging his partner, a pain in his heart that he ignored. "Kisame?" He repeated, shaking harder, but the shark man would not answer. He would not move again, and Itachi looked up as water touched his cheek, and then again. It was raining, for the first time in a while.

The Uchiha's scream was lost in the rainfall.

* * *

_When I looked up from the scene that melted back into darkness, I saw the other me looking down at the ground with a look of regret on his face. Now that I looked closely, I realised the other me was older than me, but it must of only been by a few years._

_"Was that Kisame-san?" I asked, and blinked as a smirk came on the other's face._

_"You call him Kisame-_san_?" He asked, looking back up._

_"Yes … he's my teacher." I replied._

_The other me shook his head, saying, "I should have known. Does he use a sword?"_

_"Yes …"_

_"And does he swim?" The other me looked amused._

_"Yes." I frowned. "What does this-"_

_"Kisame," The past Itachi interrupted, "in the past, fought with a sword, and loved water. I had a feeling those traits would carry on if he got reincarnated."_

_"What _are _you, though?" I asked. "You aren't normal, are you?"_

_Itachi blinked, and then looked to the side, saying, "I'm a ninja. As was Kisame."_

_"Ninja?"__ I shook my head. "I was a _ninja?!"

_"Yes. And one of the most powerful, I might add." _

_I thought this through for a little while, trying to think of what I might have inherited. And then it dawned on me. Speed … a love of fire, a hatred of my father …_

_"Is your … my … power …" I had trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that I was talking to _myself _at the moment. "Is it based around fire?"_

_The past me nodded._

_"And are you very fast?"_

_He nodded again._

_I looked down at the ground, hesitant to ask the next question, "And … your father, did you hate him?"_

_"Hate him?" Itachi said, a slow smirk forming on his face. "I killed my entire family, except Sasuke."_

_I winced. "Ouch."_

_"So you have inherited my love of fire?" The past me asked, and I nodded. He turned and looked up at the black sky, and said, "And now you're falling for the Kisame of your world."_

_I felt myself blushing at that, "I am NOT!"_

_He turned around then, looking smug. "You are me," Itachi smirked, "whether you like it or not, you're bound to end up loving Kisame. It's just the person he is, isn't it?"_

_Itachi sighed, and eventually nodded his head, "Yes … I admit, I like him."_

_"Go. And have the relationship I wish I could've had."_

_And I felt the dream come to a close, just like that._

* * *

  
Jumping up, heart pounding in his throat, Itachi was panting heavily from the dream that had plagued him for … - he looked up at the clock on his wall – almost a full hour! He held his forehead as he looked down at the piece of paper that was the extract from Konoha's history book, and closed his eyes.

Many, many things were going though his mind. The only thing that he could stretch his limited imagination to believe in though his life was reincarnation, and that was a very loose belief. It was because Sasuke had constantly questioned why certain things seemed like deja vu, and also their love of fire. It all had to come from somewhere, as Sasuke always said. But this …

It took reincarnation to a new level.

Suddenly, Itachi got up. There was one person who must know more about this than he did, and that was the person who had given him the information in the first place.

He grabbed his jacket, scarf and gloves, putting them on as he ran down the stairs to the hallway that led to the door, issuing a hurried, "To Deidara's!" When his mother asked where he was going. It was night time, but Itachi was not listening to his prim and proper part of his mind that screamed that it was late, and that he should not be barging into another person's house at this hour.

Desperate times called for desperate measures.

* * *

Running down the road, Itachi's mind was whirling with the array of memories, and thoughts. The dreams … he had been seeing the dying moment of his long time partner. Kisame, who was now his teacher.

And then there was himself.

He had been a ninja, a powerful one. A ninja who was very fast and used fire as a weapon …

Itachi slapped himself, shaking his head. For all he knew it could have been a hallucination, and there was only one way to get solid evidence to prove either point.

* * *

After about ten minutes, Itachi arrived at the blonde's house, knocking on the door with impatience that he didn't really know he possessed.

Deidara answered the door, and looked surprised to see Itachi, "Hey … what's up, and at this time, un?"

"Sorry," Itachi muttered, and rubbed his forehead, "I know it's late but … can I come in for a bit? I have to talk to you."

Deidara stepped aside and allowed Itachi to slip his shoes off and step onto the tatami mat. Despite being rich, Deidara's grandparents lived in a fairly ordinary house, more traditional with the tatami, but also modern with the appliances and tiles in the kitchen. It was a very nice house, lit with golden light from the dimmer lights (they were dimmer from the frosted covers over them) over the beautiful varnished wood of the floors that was not covered with tatami mat. On the rare occasions that Itachi had come to Deidara's house, he had always found the natural and traditional style of the house relaxing.

"Well?" Deidara asked after Itachi had slipped on the guest slippers that were customary to most Japanese households.

"I read the papers you gave me." Itachi said, seeing that the blond actually had a serious face on at the moment that was very different from his normal smiling demeanour. "Kisame … he was-"

"I know." Deidara looked at Itachi with a resigned look. "I know everything about Kisame, and about you."

"About me?" Itachi blinked. "What do you mean?"

Deidara turned away, looking straight ahead before flickering blue eyes to the other, "It would be best if I just show you."

They made their way through the house at that point, and then Deidara lead him down a hall that was made of stone. Itachi was surprised that it was attached to the house, as it looked much older than the home he had just come from. To answer the unspoken question as Deidara flicked on a flashlight, he said, "This pathway was made long before the house as an attachment to the library. I don't know why it was made yet, though."

The Uchiha nodded and looked on as the pathway got darker, and then it grew lighter slightly again. Looking ahead, he noticed a large, very beautiful timber door that was obviously the entrance to the Library.

Deidara stepped forward and opened the door, pushing it open with surprising ease. Itachi walked though after the blond and was greeted with a sight he had only ever imagined in movies.

He had never been to the library before, but he knew the Konoha one was large. Shelves upon shelves of books were placed against the walls and in tall isles and on the roof there were panels of glass that let the light in, and in this case the moonlight, casting everything into shades of deep blues and greys. It was old, and very beautiful, and Itachi wondered how a book like the history of this place was kept secret.

Deidara walked over to the other side of the building, and to a cupboard that looked to be locked. The blond pulled out a key from his pocket and unlocked the cupboard, and pulled out a very old, battered and enormous book. Motioning for Itachi to come over, the other did, and they sat at a table together.

"The reason …" Deidara said as he flicked though the pages carefully (Itachi noticed that he had put white gloves on) "The reason why this book is hidden is because it's contents are somewhat dangerous."

"Dangerous?" Itachi repeated, staring at him. "What do you mean?"

The blond gave him a look, and said, "Because a lot of the people listed in this book have been reincarnated. Just like Kisame."

Itachi didn't answer for a moment, thinking, before saying, "…On that page … it said my name. As Kisame's 'partner'." He looked over at the other, "what did it mean?"

He tried not to think of the dream.

Deidara gave him a long look, and flicked to a page he had marked before turning the book for Itachi to read. "THIS is what it meant."

Itachi leaned forward and looked at the page, and felt the bottom of his stomach drop out.

On the yellowed parchment there was a picture of the person he had seen in his dreams, the one who had looked like his identical twin. To the right of this image was his stats, which Itachi forced himself to read:

**_Name: _**_Uchiha Itachi_

**_Age_**_: 21 _

**_Birthday: _**_June 9 _

**_Blood Type: _**_AB _

**_Height: _**_175.2 cm _

**_Weight:_**_ 57.1 kg _

**_Known relatives:_**_ Fugaku Uchiha, Mikoto Uchiha, Sasuke Uchiha (brother)_

**_Rrank_**_Missing-nin _

**_Affiliation: _**_Akatsuki (Ring: scarlet, bloody; Right ring finger) _

**_Previous affiliation:_**_ Konohagakure, Uchiha clan _

**_Current team: _**_Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki_

**_Bio: _**_Itachi Uchiha, a missing-nin from Konohagakure, is the partner of Kisame Hoshigaki and the first Akatsuki member to be recorded by Konoha in existence. Itachi was one of the last remaining members of the Uchiha Clan, the other was his brother Sasuke Uchiha. He has caused many events in the village history, such as killing the Uchiha Clan and revealing to Konoha the presence of Akatsuki. Itachi had complete mastery of the Sharingan and Mangekyo Sharingan, and was also a master of ninjutsu and genjutsu. He was eventually killed by his brother Sasuke, who had sworn to kill Itachi after he had murdered their family. _

Itachi stood up and backed away, shaking his head, "there's no way… There's no way you can expect me to believe that." He couldn't be a reincarnation of that …man.

"Oh, really, un?" Deidara said, looking up, and then he flicked though to another marked page and held it up. "Then tell me who THIS reminds you of?"

Itachi looked at the book, and his eyes went wide. The name written at the top was …

"You're not the only one who got reincarnated, un." Deidara said softly as the Uchiha sat back down, staring at the crazily smiling man in the picture next to Deidara's name, and he saw the same resemblance that he had with his own past twin. The same hairstyle, the same eye shape … Itachi turned to Deidara, who looked back with an uncharacteristically serious look on his face.

"I'm the same, and I'm not the only one, un." Deidara flicked though the book again and then landed on another marked page, and held it up, "Recognise him?"

Itachi looked, and a hand shot up to his mouth as he stared, wide eyed at the picture.

"Sasori …" He whispered.

"Danna … was a puppet master." Deidara said, and pointed to the partnership part. "Look who his partners were."

Itachi did, and he then looked over at the other slowly, "You were … and, Orochimaru? Who would that be now?"

"What does Orochimaru shorten to if you take off the 'maru' part, un?" Deidara said simply, having already researched this.

Itachi looked back at the page, a sour look on his face. "Orochi." Staring at the picture that again was like looking at the red head's identical twin, the Uchiha sighed out and said, "But in this profile it says that the Sasori from back then didn't get along well with you, but he did with Orochi … It's like history is repeating itself."

"Exactly." Deidara said, flicking though the book, "From what I gathered from here and other sources, we were all part of a group called the Akatsuki, a band of super powerful criminals." He looked at the other man and said in a hushed voice, "Maybe it was god's way of redemption for us, un?"

Itachi closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. It all made sense now. The dreams … the feeling he had felt in his heart the very first day he met Kisame … everything made alarming sense. He opened his eyes and flicked back to 'his' profile, and read deeper into it:

"…_of all the partnerships of the Akatsuki, it seemed that Itachi got along very well with Kisame, so well in fact that the pair were not seen apart from each other during the times they were recorded in history. While the sleeping arrangements of the Akatsuki are still unclear, it is said that these two often shared a room when staying at inn's anyway. The two of them were often given missions that involved a high amount of teamwork, and it is said that Itachi even let down his guard around his partner, allowing Kisame to watch over him while he slept, take care of him, and return the same practice."_

"I had a dream." Itachi said, looking at Deidara, "that I talked to my past self, and he said for me to 'go and have the relationship I couldn't.' …" He turned back to the book. "What do you think of that?"

"By the looks of it, you two where friends at least, un." Deidara said, taking the book back and closing it with a muffled snap before stripping off his gloves. "Maybe he wanted something more than that."

Itachi's cheeks flared red. "But I'm not gay!" He blurted out, looking at Deidara in shock, "I mean, Kisame is really nice and everything but I don't want to have a relationship with him!"

It was then he remembered his past self's words: '_whether you like it or not, you're bound to end up loving Kisame._' And turned a deeper red. "I'm not …"

Deidara only started to laugh, patting Itachi on the shoulder, "Relax Itachi! If you're meant to be with Kisame then you will be, no matter how many times you insist that you're straight. I can't help but be amazed by Sasori's artworks, and no matter how hard I try I can't resist an argument, un. And that was before I knew all of this."

"How … how did you react?" Itachi asked, facing Deidara now.

"I was a bit shocked, at first … but then I accepted it, you know." The blond smiled, "I plan on defying my past, and become a master of making fireworks. That, and I will never give up on becoming Danna's friend, un!"

Itachi looked up into the smiling face and felt himself relax a little. Even if Kisame had been his partner in a past life … even if he liked him now … he would not choose his destiny based on the past.

But if only he knew how soon his will would be tested ...

* * *

Yay for information all coming together :D And for those who almost threw random things out their windows, think of the glass. The glass has feelings, as do walls. :P Okay I'll shutup now.

Reviews are love :)


	8. Fate

**Fate**

After the rather draining evening spend at the library, Itachi returned home only to crawl into bed and fall into a deep sleep. He needed it, and badly after the events of the evening, and he was glad that he did not dream.

However, a week later, Itachi still hadn't come to terms with how he felt about Kisame. There was affection, certainly, but he didn't know if it was simply platonic or if it went further.

He had shared all of what Deidara had told him (except for the part about him) to Sasori, and the redhead had reacted similar to what he had.

"It's just … so strange." Sasori said softly during lunch on the Wednesday. It was beginning to warm up now, as February was drawing to a close and Spring was almost on the northern hemisphere's doorstep. And so, the two of them could sit under their tree together for the first time since October last year. "I never would have considered reincarnation to be the cause of your dreams about Kisame."

"I feel like I'm trapped in a bad science fiction novel." Itachi grumbled and took a bite of his rice ball. "It's very depressing, you know."

"Don't over-react about it." Sasori said, leaning back and eating some more of his own lunch. "I mean, it's not as though in the past Kisame and yourself were lovers."

Itachi thought about that, looking down, and shook his head, "I have a feeling they might've been."

"How do you figure?" Sasori said, shocked.

Itachi blushed and looked over at his best friend, and said, "I've been having … rather interesting dreams …"

Sasori blinked, and his cheeks turned scarlet as well. "Oh. Right."

"And I _know _it's not normal. I mean … I normally dream about girls and this is the first time I've dreamed about a guy … who had blue skin." Okay, now Itachi's cheeks were _flaming_

"And the past Kisame had blue skin, didn't he?" The red head asked.

"Yes." Itachi rubbed his cheek, looking down into his now empty bento box. "I mean … none of the dreams I'm having at the moment actually involve sex but … I just know there was more to them than partners, unlike what the book said."

"Well, I doubt as if such a book is all knowing." Sasori leaned back against the tree and looked up at the bare branches. "I mean, if they were ninja, they would have to hide the fact that they were in a relationship, if it existed. So it wouldn't have been recorded in it that they were together."

"Yeah …" The blush having faded, Itachi re-wrapped his bento box in its cloth and stood up as the warning bell went. Sasori did the same, and the two of them headed to class.

* * *

While the Uchiha's life had gone back to the normality he was used to before the final year had begun, he noticed that he now looked at Kisame differently since the fated night in the Library. It was to be expected, but even so, when he was doing the written portion of PE, he often caught himself watching the man as he taught, and mentally told himself off for it later on.

If Kisame had caught him … well, awkward wouldn't even BEGIN to cover it anymore.

That day after school ended, he stayed back to do some extra work in preparation for the exams that were to come in June. Call him an early bird, but Itachi liked to write down all of his notes very early so he wouldn't be stressing when it came to the knuckle down. He put it all in a small binder folder that would not be touched again until May, and as dusk settled in, (it had been doing so early due to winter, and was only starting to ease now) Itachi packed his bag and headed off.

It was rare that Itachi would allow himself to wonder the streets at night (as there was no bus or train currently taking him home at this time in winter) but tonight he made an exception. After all, at the moment he thought a walk out would be a good time to freshen his mind.

As he walked along the quiet streets, Itachi felt content at the light breeze, even if it was cold. He was well wrapped up, and he didn't feel the brisk cold so much. It was because of this that he was unaware of being followed. Tensing up slightly, he went even more so when he saw the figure up ahead, waiting for him, or so it seemed.

Orochi.

Itachi stopped, and Orochi sneered at the young man, calling out softly, "Well, well … Itachi-kun …"

Itachi glared at the woman. This whore had hurt his best friend and caused so much trouble at the school in finding a replacement so fast. He barely knew this woman, and already he _hated _her with a loathing passion.

However, she clicked her fingers, and Itachi whipped around as several very strong looking men ran out from the streets towards him, and the Uchiha didn't stop to think. He ran, but it was too late as one of the goons grabbed him, holding his arms. Itachi struggled and was forced against a wall in one of the alleyways nearby, wincing at the bricks tearing the skin on his cheek.

"Why are you doing this?!" He shouted, kicking behind him at the goon holding him, and he only pushed him tighter into the wall. He heard Orochi's soft sinister chuckle from behind him.

"Sasori was so pre-occupied in our date that I left after I had got what I wanted. It was obvious why that was so." She sneered.

"Why?" Itachi couldn't help but ask, his wrists starting to ache from the abuse earlier.

She lifted her head up and laughed, "Because he's gay, and in love with you! I could tell he was … you're always over at his house or hanging around with him …"

"Sasori's my friend …" Itachi whispered, shaking his head, "He's my friend, and nothing more."

"I don't believe you." Orochi said, and then said to her boys, "Do what you want to him."

The men grinned perversely and came forward, and Itachi felt completely hopeless.

_I'm going to get raped … _His mind screamed, and he felt his eyes heat from tears then. But he mentally shook his head. _NO! I will NOT let them do this to me! There HAS to be a way to stop them! _

Filled with nervous determination, he opened his eyes again, and he saw something. Somehow … he KNEW what that skinny man over there was going to do … and the man next to him … and the man behind him. He knew … he could see it. In that second, Itachi knew that he should jump and kick the man behind him in the stomach, using him as lever to jump away …

How Itachi knew this he could not explain, but he did it, much to the surprise of the man behind him. Free of his clutches and feeling himself tremble, he backed away from the men as they advanced, angry and shouting obscenities at him. Feeling the wall behind him again from the end of the alley, Itachi saw that the middle man would attack first … and he did, dodging out of the way as he did for the other man, punching one in the face as he dodged the blows.

_I can see _… he saw their movements before they even happened, _I can see! _He dodged another blow, and another, but unfortunately he could not see the one aimed at the back of his head. He flew back into the wall, just as a voice he recognised yelled out,

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU **_DOING_**?!"

Several swooshing sounds followed by screams echoed though the night, and then the sound of running and Orochi screaming as she was thrown to the ground by someone. Dazed, Itachi couldn't open his eyes due to the throbbing of his head, but he heard someone say,

"If you _ever _come near Itachi or any of the students at the school again, I will make sure to execute you **_myself._**"

Orochi must've run then, and soft footsteps came closer. There was the sound of a sword getting put back in its sheath which made Itachi curl up tighter against the wall. The footsteps stopped, and the Uchiha felt a careful, gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Itachi?" The voice whispered. It sounded horrified, and Itachi managed to open his eyes, noticing that he was actually shaking rather badly.

"Kisame … san …" He whispered back, and he pushed himself forward until his head was buried deep in the other's chest.

On any normal occasion, the Uchiha would never have dared to do this with his teacher. To him, it was something that very close friends did, but right now, Itachi was frightened and in a state of shock, and also dizzy from the blow to his head. Right now, he needed something to give him strength as he gripped the other's shirt tightly, shaking from head to toe.

Kisame put a hand on the back of Itachi's head (not the sore spot) and one on his shoulder after a minute, gently prying the young man off, and saying softly, "Come on, my place isn't far."

Itachi looked up into the gold eyes, managing to nod and stand with Kisame's help, saying in a deluded way, "How … how …"

"I must live close to you." Kisame said, making Itachi put an arm around his shoulders, although it was a little hard with the blue haired man being a head taller than Itachi. "Come on …"

* * *

It didn't take them long to reach Kisame's apartment. For Tokyo's standards, he lived in a roomy place, with two large rooms and a bedroom/bathroom, which was also cosy. Along with a TV that hung on the wall, there were shelves with books galore, a trophy case, and little personal items here and there.

Itachi sat on the couch with a blanket wrapped around him as he burrowed himself deep into it. His shaking was starting to subside now, and he occasionally looked over at Kisame stirring something on the small stove in the kitchen. Kisame then poured this into a mug eventually, and came over to press it into the Uchiha's hands, who sniffed it. Thinking for a moment, he looked up and said, "Is this that Milo stuff?"

"Yeah." Kisame said beside him, sipping his own cup. "It has milk in it, so it'll help calm you down a little."

Itachi nodded slowly, and carefully sipped out of the cup. He stared at the heater that looked like a fake fire, and sighed softly, feeling the milo slowly but surely take effect.

It was so strange how relaxed he felt with this man, how comfortable he was in his presence. He knew now that he was once partners with him, but it didn't stop the Uchiha from being fascinated by it all. Before he had even known about that he had felt comfortable about Kisame, and he couldn't stop himself from liking it. Tilting his head back, he drank the entire cup, even though it was scalding hot and sighed, licking his lips of the milk and setting the cup aside, feeling the warmth spread all the way to his toes. After a while of content silence, the shaking finally stopped.

He looked up to see Kisame peering at the back of his head where he had been thumped, very carefully touching it. "You've got a bump, but you'll be okay."

He was so close … Itachi felt the other's heat near him, and the touch on his skin made him jump slightly, looking up at him. Kisame stared back, and then rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry, did I startle you?"

Itachi shook his head, looking up at him as he thought. '_He's so caring …' _Itachi mused … '_he's such a strong man but he's so gentle. And I know he's my teacher so he's supposed to take care of his students, but …'_

Itachi finally looked down and shuffled closer, wanting to be near Kisame more. "Kisame … can …"

"Mm?" The blue haired man watched the other come closer, and inwardly was glad that Itachi was reacting okay with human contact right after he had been attacked. It was a good sign that he was no longer in shock.

In the warmth of the living room, Itachi inched closer before finally pushing himself against Kisame's chest again like before, but this time, he was far more relaxed and aware of what he was doing. He knew that what he could start right now could be dangerous, but hey? He wasn't going to be a student at High school much longer. That, and he felt so normal around Kisame … so … unjudged by who he was, and treated like an equal instead of a child.

He didn't expect Kisame to like what he did, and he was fully expecting Kisame to tell him off for trying to become closer with a teacher, but he didn't. Instead, after a moment, the other wrapped his arms around Itachi gently, stroking his back and holding Itachi close, eventually tightening his grip when the Uchiha shifted in his arms.

Neither knew how long they stayed like that. For all Itachi knew, he could have easily nodded off right in Kisame's arms just then. But right then, he had never felt more relaxed or safe in his entire life. On top of that, Kisame felt so familiar to him that he didn't dare guess it.

He was … familiar … awfully so.

* * *

_It was cold and wet, the storm not easing in the slightest. The two missing nin had to find shelter, and they did in a small cave. The blue one managed to seal the entrance with a jutsu, and the pale boy set up the traps. Once a fire was lit, the smaller man curled up in the big blue one's arms, falling deeply asleep, safe that his partner would protect him._

_The blue one put his head on the other's, closing his eyes and breathing in his familiar scent. He smiled softly, knowing that only he would ever get close to the great Uchiha Itachi._

* * *

NO THIS IS NOT THE END! XD I wouldn't do that to you :P Gotta love the cute no? It was HARD to make this IC because I didn't know how Present!Itachi would react to being attacked. But since he's never been attacked like this, I can imagine him being pretty frightened by the whole ordeal, the poor pretty man XD

Orochi's a bitch isn't she? I was tempted to make Kisame skewer her with his sword, but then he'd be up for murder charges XD This was the best I could do, folks! At least now you know why Orochi walked out on poor Sasori. (doesn't make her any less of a whore though )

Seeya soon!


	9. Complicated

_Told ya it wasn't over ;)_

**Complicated**

When Itachi eventually got home, he thought his parents must've gone to sleep. Kisame had rung them to let them know Itachi was okay, and that he would be home later in the night. Looking at the table, he noticed that there were some covered riceballs left for him to eat, but he was not feeling hungry, only tired.

He looked over at the blazing fire that he loved, and went to flop down in front of it. With a meow that startled him, Sharingan came over then to lick Itachi's face and curl up with him too. Itachi petted him lazily, "Hey fluffball, Mum feed you?"

Sharingan purred and shifted his position, and the Uchiha smiled. The heat from the fire was making him pleasantly sleepy, and just as he was about to nod off when Sasuke walked into the lounge, murmuring, "Nii-san, I can't sleep ..."

Itachi looked up and patted the mat beside him, and the younger Uchiha came over, curling up with Itachi as well, his head resting on the spot just below Itachi's hipbone. Warm and comfortable, the brothers fell asleep with Sharingan purring deeply into the night.

Mikoto came out of her room at about midnight to use the bathroom, and spotted the two by the fire. Smiling at the cute image, she grabbed a pillow and a thick blanket, slipping the pillow under Itachi's head and the blanket over the two of them.

* * *

The next morning Itachi went to school as usual, feeling refreshed and not worrying much about the attack the previous night. He knew that with Kisame's threat and the fact that Itachi would no longer walk alone at night times, the Uchiha thought he was fairly safe again. Working though the workload of high school, he looked at his report card for the term and was very pleased with it. He had got all A's and some A+'s in all but one subject, that being English, where he had got an A-.

Going up to the English teacher the next day, he asked her if it was possible to get some extra lessons after class to improve his grade, and she looked at him, very apologetic.

"I'm sorry Uchiha-san," She said, "But I'm already teaching two students who are far below your level at the moment."

"Oh ..." Itachi looked down at his books, and the teacher said, "Perhaps you could ask that new teacher? What's his name ... Hoshigaki-san? I heard he is fluent in English. Maybe he can help you."

Itachi's heart rate increased as the teacher mentioned that, and he nodded, bowing and thanking the teacher before leaving the classroom.

Ever since he had hugged Kisame, he had not been able to stop thinking about it the entire morning. It had felt so nice, and it was as if he had done it before. It made him wonder if his past self had allowed the past Kisame to hold him too, which made him tempted to try and talk to his past self again, even if he had no idea how to actually initiate such a conversation. He had no idea how it had even happened the first time.

And now he had to ask Kisame for private lessons.

He knew that the man would say yes, but for some reason he felt nervous. Would Kisame not want to see him because of what happened last night? The Uchiha shook his head rapidly as he headed out to sit under his tree for lunch, consumed in thought. He didn't know whether to ask or not ... but he wanted his grade to become a solid A. Leaning back against the tree, he sighed, and almost jumped out of his skin when he noticed Sasori smiling at him next to the other student.

Itachi hadn't even noticed the red head sit down beside him.

Sasori smirked as he watched Itachi stare into space, and then he gently poked him. When the Uchiha still didn't respond, Sasori grabbed his ponytail and _pulled. _Itachi _hated _anyone touching his hair, as he was secretly very vain about it, and even if it was a gentle pull, Itachi whirled around, pissed, before noticing it was Sasori.

"Why'd you do that?" Itachi almost whined as he protectively pulled his ponytail over his right shoulder as Sasori chuckled, and said, "You wouldn't snap out of it, so I had to do that."

The Uchiha sighed. "Fine …" and then he turned away.

He had not yet told the red head about what had happened the previous night, and he thought that now was probably the right time to tell him. Looking over, he said, "Sasori … Orochi's men attacked me last night."

"What?!" Sasori stared, shocked and angry at his best friend, and said, "Why did she do that?!"

"She told me it was because she thought you were in love with me." Itachi replied. "She said you were distracted though your date, which is why she walked out on you."

Sasori blinked at Itachi, and then blinked again, before looking rather bemused at his friend, "Well, erm, you look kinda girly Itachi, but I'm certainly not in love with you."

The Uchiha smacked him for it while the red head chuckled, and he looked up at the whispy clouds in the blue sky, saying, "I wonder how she got that impression, though. The only thing I said to her about you is that you were my best friend and that we studied for exams together. Maybe she took it the wrong way."

"I think she did." Itachi sighed, looking up at the sky also. It was the first clear day they had had in a long time. "I mean, I don't think you're into guys, are you?"

Sasori shrugged, "I've only ever been interested in girls, so I suppose so. But during teen years your hormones fluctuate so much that you don't really know. Most people think they're bi-sexual before they turn 21 or so."

"I see …" Itachi said softly. What did that say for him then? Was he bi-sexual or gay? He certainly knew he wasn't straight. He had known that since he was 15 when he had a crush on another boy in the class, but he had gotten over that when the boy moved. That, and Itachi was far too absorbed in his work to really pay attention to a crush. It had been merely something he had noted during his time at school thus far.

"So, do you know what sexuality you are?" Sasori said with a smirk.

Itachi paused and then shook his head, saying, "No. I don't really pay attention to it that much."

"Fair enough." The red head replied, and then Itachi stood up with him as the warning bell went. "What class is next?"

"P.E" Itachi replied and then said, "I need to talk to Ki-Hoshigaki-san about something."

"Right, best save it for after class. Today is a double." Sasori said as they walked towards the school building, and Itachi looked up as something soft brushed his cheek. Blinking, he looked to his left to see the first of the cherry blossoms had bloomed, and a petal had brushed across the ebony haired student's cheek.

Spring was Itachi's favourite season. He didn't know particularly why, as he was not that fond of flowers and he certainly was not the kind to play in the petals, but it drew him in somehow. Maybe he would be able to finally talk to his past self about what _else _happened in his past that he conveniently left out the first time they talked.

Itachi was starting to wonder if he was going insane.

That afternoon's PE lesson was theory based, and Kisame tried to make it as interesting as possible. Itachi absorbed everything like a sponge, and wrote more into his books than he had done for a while. It figured that he'd write more in Kisame's class more than others ...

When the class ended, all of the students got up to leave and get their name ticked off for homeroom. Itachi did so as well, and it was at the end of homeroom that he walked over to Kisame, and said, "Um ... Kisame, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure." The teacher said, looking at his student with a mix of curiosity and concern. It seemed he hadn't forgotten what Orochi wanted to do to him. What her men almost did.

"My english grade is lower than I want it to be," Itachi said, looking up at Kisame (whose fears were washed away) "and I was wondering if you could give me some private lessons, since my English teacher said you were bi-lingual."

He did not reveal that he knew this before hand.

Kisame blinked and then smiled, saying, "Sure, I'd be happy to. Did you want to do it at school or elsewhere?"

"Is ... is your house okay?" Itachi said quietly, not wanting to sound suspicious. The truth was, he liked Kisame's home. It was nice and relaxing, and it smelt good.

"That is fine." Kisame replied, and smirked, "Now, what was your grade Itachi, an A minus?"

Itachi blinked and nodded, and Kisame restrained a chuckle, "You really think you need me to tutor you with a grade like that?"

"Kisame ..." Itachi grumped, crossing his arms while Kisame let out the chuckle that had been building in his throat. "I like full grades."

"I bet you do." Kisame winked, and then gathered his briefcase and jacket, saying, "4pm my place after school on Monday then!"

When Kisame left, Itachi smiled, resisting the urge to jump up and down like and excited schoolgirl. That would have been totally undignified.

* * *

That night, Itachi sat at his desk to do homework when he found himself drifting into a dose, his mind awash with thoughts. The dreams he had been having that involved feelings of another sort were disturbing him in his waking hours as well as his normal ones, and Itachi didn't quite know how to deal with that. He had never felt lust this strong before, if that was what it was, and he felt that he needed to talk to his other self.

As he dosed, he started to dream, and he had got his wish. He returned to the black landscape with the faint light that separated land from sky, and he blinked to see his past self standing there with a smirk.

"_You called?" _He said, blinking at the other before closing his eyes, changing the landscape with his will. Suddenly, there was a comfy couch beside both of the Itachi's, and the past Itachi took a seat.

"Yes." The Itachi of the present said, taking a seat. "I've been having dreams again."

"_What kind of dreams?" _The past Itachi said.

The Uchiha without the red eyes looked away then, thinking of how to describe the new dreams that had plagued him for a week now. He then decided to go for the truth. "I keep dreaming of you ... I think you're making out with Kisame."

The past Itachi stared. The current Itachi looked uncomfortable under such a penetrating red eyed stare, but he persisted. "Have you--"

"_Kisame and I were ninja." _The past Uchiha said simply, cutting off the other Itachi. "_Even if we were to have a relationship, we could not. It would have affected our work in the Akatsuki organisation, and I would not have allowed that to happen. What you dreamed was probably you fantasising about what you want with the current Kisame."_

Itachi blushed at that, and then glared, "The Kisame in my dream was _blue. _The only person I've seen that is blue is the Kisame from _your _past. How do you explain that?"

Itachi did not answer, and instead he looked away with a sigh. The future Itachi continued on, "You told me you cared about him. Surely there were times when you--"

"_Enough." _The past Itachi stood up, and the couches vanished, leaving the present Itachi to fall on his backside. "_I will not discuss this now. Or ever."_

And the present Itachi twitched outside of his dream, waking up and glaring at his mirror.

"God, I was an asshole." He said.

* * *

That night after dinner and his hot chocolate, Itachi lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He didn't really understand why he wanted to know about his past so much, but he thought that he didn't want to feel as though his past would interfere with the here and now. And if he chose to take things further with Kisame, then he wanted to do it because he wanted it, not because his past self had once fallen in love with the past version of Kisame, if that was what happened.

It was hard to decipher the past Itachi, the current one thought when he rolled over and closed his eyes. Obviously being a ninja meant that you had to shut off your emotions, but there must be some reason why the spirit of the past Uchiha was hanging around. Itachi thought that it could be his unfinished business with the past Kisame, but no one knew that for sure, not even him.

Closing his eyes, he let himself slip off into dream again ...

_In the calm spring night, Kisame and Itachi both lay on their backs in the soft grass. They were camping together outdoors, and at the moment they were relaxed enough to do something silly. Or Kisame was, and Itachi had just agreed so he wouldn't have to see Kisame's pout. He really was a victim to that..._

_Pointing at the sky, Kisame made a shape and said, "There's the saucepan, do you see?"_

_Itachi looked over at him with a bland expression. "Kisame. This is stupid."_

_"Do you see?" Kisame was so used to Itachi being a sour puss that he didn't even blink at his partner's annoyance._

_If he were a more expressive person, he would have let out a huffed sound before nodding, "Yes. I see it."_

_Kisame chuckled and pointed up again, "What about that?"_

_"Scorpio." Itachi replied, resigning himself to Kisame wanting to be childish. They lay there for a while, continuing to point out the star signs and other shapes in the stars, before Itachi said softly, "What are your dreams?"_

_"Mine?" Kisame raised his eyebrows and said, "If I tell you will you tell me?"_

_Itachi rolled over to look at him and nodded, and Kisame looked up at the bright stars above, and he said, "I always wanted to be a powerful ninja, really, and live an exciting life ... but most of all ..." He looked away with a blush, "I've wanted to have someone recognise me as a person instead of a monster." He looked back at Itachi, rubbing the back of his head, "Lame huh?"_

_But Itachi was staring at him intensely, and Kisame began to get uncomfortable (which happened rarely) before Itachi said softly, "I ... always wanted someone to view me as an equal."_

_Kisame blinked and nodded, smiling suddenly, "Wow; ironic that we have similar dreams isn't it?"_

_Itachi's cheeks turned pink and he sat up in the grass, the light breeze blowing his hair gently, looking down at his partner with a small smile. "Not really. Leader-sama chose us to be together for some reason or another. Maybe he saw the similarity between us without realising it?"_

_"Heh, if I know Leader, then that's probably the case." Kisame said, looking up at his partner from the grassy ground._

_Itachi only smiled slightly wider before standing and going over to put more wood on their fire. Kisame joined him in the tent soon after to sleep.  
_

* * *

_Well, another chapter done! Thankyou kindly to all reviewers who reviewed, and to answer a question: Does Kisame also remember his past self? That, you will have to wait and see ;) _


	10. The Truth

_Soooo sorry this took forever. I got a case of brain freeze when writing it XD_

* * *

**The truth**

With the weather warming up as winter broke in Japan, and the sun was beginning to shine brighter on the country, that, and the prospect of having private lessons with his favourite teacher, Itachi was in a noticeably good mood. You could never really tell with the Uchiha, but the smile that hovered around his lips these days was a sure sign that he was in high spirits. It was something that Sasori especially noticed, and also poked a little bit of fun at.

"You look like a dreamy schoolgirl, thinking about her crush, Itachi." The red head joked one lunchtime a week after Itachi had spoken to Kisame. In response to that, the Uchiha blushed and smacked Sasori on the back of the head, looking mortified. The redhead only laughed at him.

Like Itachi, Sasori had recovered from his fallout with Orochi, and was now as happy as he was before it had even happened. Indeed, he set his sights on exams that were only six weeks away, and he even let Deidara have lunch with him. He had been refusing to do that for a while now, and Itachi wondered why he had a sudden change in attitude, but did not question it. If it meant that Sasori would be happy again, then he would not question it.

As Itachi finished off his work for the day, he went to find Sasori to walk a little of the way home. He would be going to Kisame's house for his first lesson, and it was rather hard to hide his pleasure from Sasori, who kept looking at him with a smirk. Thankfully, the red head did not decide to tease him, like Itachi knew he wanted to.

When they parted, the Uchiha followed the directions Kisame had given (since he was not sure if he would remember from the shock of that horrible night) and eventually looked up at the modest apartment building. Going to Kisame's room once inside, he knocked and stepped back, waiting for the door to open, annoyed that he was somewhat nervous.

Kisame opened the door a moment afterwards and smiled at the student, saying, "Hey, come on in."

Itachi smiled slightly and did so, looking over the small room. Because of the shock he was under the last time he had come to this place, he did not appreciate the full calm of the room. There was a lingering smell in the air, like an incense had been burning, making the place smell of the ocean, along with a sweeter scent. He couldn't identify the smell, but whatever it was, it made him suddenly hungry.

Now that he did look around, however, he did look into the things he had noticed before. The bookcase covered a fair portion of one of the walls, and there were spots here and there that had gaps, as though the collection was incomplete. There were other gaps that suggested the books there were special, and that they were to have room all to themselves because they were that amazing. To the side he saw a small trophy cabinet that hosted everything from swimming trophy's to surfing, and another that looked suspiciously like a trading card. An electric blue surfboard leaned next to that and had a bright shark painted onto it. All around, Itachi felt he could learn a lot about Kisame by simply looking at this room.

Said teacher went over to his small kitchen table where there was plenty of light and directed Itachi to sit down. He already had a few English books sitting next to him, and he said, "So Itachi, what can I help you with?"

Itachi began to explain that some of the English wording that had multiple meanings confused him greatly, and that it was hard to remember which way to put those words, and so Kisame explained to him. During the hour, Itachi felt glad that he didn't openly stare at Kisame sometimes, just to study the man, and left the apartment feeling quite pleased with how it had gone.

* * *

A week later at school, Itachi immediately noticed that Sasori was NOT in a good mood. He looked pissed, livid even, and barely spoke to Itachi at all even during lunch. The Uchiha decided to let it be; if it was something that required his attention, he knew that Sasori would tell him. 

It was a good thing that Itachi made this decision, because every fangirl of his who had dared approach was quickly sent away by the red head's short and curt answers. By the end of the day, Itachi saw Sasori head to the art room, and he let him be for the moment. He would go after Sasori after he had packed his bags.

"Itachi-san?"

Looking up, Itachi's stomach jolted as he came face to face with Kisame, who was smiling as usual and in a good moon, but was looking at the door in a questioning sort of way. The Uchiha straightened up from where he had been putting the last of his books in his bag and said, "Hello, Kisame."

"Hi ..." Kisame blinked at him and said, "Was it just me, or was Sasori in a terrible mood today?"

"No," Itachi shook his head and smiled faintly, "He was. I don't know why though."

"I see..." Kisame seemed to be in thought for a moment, before saying, "Well, I know he asked the art teacher if he could stay back today to fix up a painting that was ruined. Maybe that was why he was upset?"

Itachi nodded, his mind racing. If one of his paintings was ruined, then he might have an idea of who had done it. And so, with a thank you to his teacher, he headed towards the art room.

The only one that would be foolish enough to even touch Sasori's beautiful paintings would be Deidara, and if he had indeed wrecked one of them, it was no wonder he was in such a foul mood. After all, Sasori _hated _Deidara's art, for reasons he didn't understand, even after knowing the red head's past.

* * *

As he walked closer to the art room, he thought he heard muffled shouting that was suddenly silenced. Frowning, he walked forward and then opened the door silently a crack to peer inside. And stared, wide eyed at the sight before him.

Sasori had Deidara bent over one of the easels, kissing furiously as though he was taking his aggression out though his mouth in another way. Deidara was responding just as ferociously, and just as suddenly, Sasori broke off to glare at the blonde, although this was marred by the blush streaked across his face that matched his red hair.

"Stupid ... pretty ... _bastard_ ..." Sasori said though light pants. "I _hate _you, Deidara."

The blonde only grinned evilly and pulled Sasori back down for another kiss, triumphant in his quest to make Sasori his friend, and now it seemed, more ...

Itachi carefully shut the door, and then ran away quickly before giggling like crazy, beside himself. Deidara had once confided in him that he found Sasori attractive, but he thought the blond had only said it to freak him out. And when he thought about it, he was very glad now that Sasori finally found someone who wasn't a renown whore. Itachi looked at the sun setting and decided he better go home, since he doubted whether Sasori was going to be going for a little while yet.

* * *

The next day at school, Itachi was very glad to see Sasori happy again, and decided that some payback teasing was in order. Smirking at him during homeroom, he pasted the red head a note that he took with some surprise. It said,

'_Well Sas ... I hope Dei-chan won't be clinging to your arm at lunch, or I might be inclined to laugh hysterically in the face of your embarrassment ;)_

_Congrats man.'_

The red head looked up at his best friend with his face as bright as it was the previous night, and Itachi looked at him, eyes twinkling with laughter. Sasori only rolled his eyes and balled the note up to throw back at Itachi, but it was clear he was pleased.

That day at lunchtime, Itachi sat at his tree and watched the cherry blossoms for a while. The petals seemed to be attracted to his hair in particular, and make him look like he had pink braided though his ponytail if he happened to walk under them. Sasori sat down next to him soon after, and looked at him, saying, "How did you find out?"

"I went to find you last night and caught you making out." Itachi said with a smirk, "So ... Deidara huh?"

Sasori blushed and then sighed, saying, "The idiot. I know he planned this. He splattered clay all over my most recent painting, just to get me riled. So I went to the art room last night and I started yelling at him, and he started yelling back. And eventually I got so fed up with him yelling and the fact that he would never leave me alone, and that he annoyed me so much ... I acted. Next thing I know, I'm kissing him." He sighed softly, "I never even figured out that I was attracted to him until that moment ... It must be because he looks like a bloody girl."

Itachi was shaking with laughter and shaking his head with the mirth. Sasori glared and said angrily, "Hey! What about you and Kisame?!"

Itachi calmed down and wiped tears of laughter away from his eyes, and then said, "Aha ... Oh! Well ... nothing really. I mean, we've had a few sessions together and I'm learning loads, but nothing out of the ordinary."

Sasori had a smirk on his face that Itachi did not like one bit.

"Even if," Itachi said when Sasori opened his mouth, "I _may _have feelings for Kisame, it is completely inappropriate. I am a student, and he is a teacher. If we were to so much as seen _holding hands_ he would lose his job. And I for one would never put that risk on him."

Sasori folded his arms and frowned at him, thinking hard, and then said softly, "And when you leave in a few months time?"

Itachi tried hard not to blush and didn't answer.

The truth was that self denial and being around Kisame so much was starting to take its toll. He found his face heated up slightly just by being near Kisame, and that it was something not involving the slowly rising temperature of the weather as it hit Spring. He could not deny being attracted to Kisame, but his logical mind was making it nearly impossible for anyone to detect. Even so, Sasori's words had made the dragon that was his teenage hormones raise its head and sniff eagerly at the hope, which as far as Itachi was concerned, dangerous.

In response to Sasori's question, he sighed and shook his head, "I don't know. I ... don't think Kisame would want to spend his time with me that isn't academic..."

Sasori almost whacked him on the back of the head, and said indignantly, "Are you _kidding?! _I reckon he would love to get with you!"

Itachi covered Sasori's mouth with a glare and a vivid blush. But he remembered what his past self had said to him the very first time they had spoken "_whether you like it or not, you're bound to end up loving Kisame." _

Was he truly falling in love?

His mind buzzed with the question all though class as he colour coded his notes and organised them into folders for exams. He managed to pay attention and ignore his nagging thoughts eventually, and by the end of class, Itachi stepped out into the descending sunlight in a very preoccupied stance. So much so that he collided into something warm and hard with an 'oof!'

"Careful, Itachi."

Hands gently pushing Itachi upright, the Uchiha froze when he realised he had bumped right into Kisame, who looked like he was coming back from putting things in his car. The younger male couldn't stop the bright red blush streaking across his face and he looked down, hoping Kisame hadn't noticed ...

"Itachi?" The teacher blinked, not used to Itachi acting ... shy? But then as Itachi looked up he felt something push him in the small of his back, lurching him forward.

It was with great shock that the two of them found themselves kissing, and the spirit of the past Kisame snickered as he watched on, high fiving the sky.

* * *

_Well, that should answer you question about the past Kisame :P Yes, he's hanging around. He'll be more prominent in future chatpters I imagine _


	11. Intensified

**Intensified **

Rushing home and going straight into his room to startle Sharingan from his snoozing spot on the window still in the sun, Itachi dropped his bag and flopped on his bed to hide his burning face in the pillows. A moment after he didn't move, Sharingan meowed at him and jumped onto Itachi's back, pawing it to try and get movement out of his owner with no luck. Giving up, the fluffy cat jumped onto Itachi's pillow and curled up once more.

_His lips were soft._

Itachi had to stop himself from thinking about how warm and soft the accidental kiss was. Even if it barely lasted more than two seconds, Itachi couldn't get over how nice it had felt. His mother read romance novels occasionally, but the Uchiha had never thought that some of the over dramatised kissing scenes might actually turn out to have _some _basis of fact. He remembered distinctly the leap of his stomach and a flood of warmth wash over him as Kisame's lips touched his, and the surprise in both of their eyes as they pulled away, before Itachi looked down with the most vivid blush he had probably ever had. Hastily excusing himself, he practically ran home without even bothering to look at Kisame's face. How he would be able to look the teacher in the face again, he would never know.

"Sharingan, what should I _do_?" He whined to his cat, who meowed and started to paw his arm in what he deemed as an affectionate sort of way, before jumping off the bed. Itachi watched as his cat jumped onto his desk and grabbed a sheet of paper, coming over to him and dropping it on his bed. The Uchiha blinked and picked up the sheet, and realised it was the printed extract from the old history book that Deidara had shown him. He sighed and said, "I've already read it, fluffball."

Sharingan meowed and nudged the paper again, and Itachi resigned, picking it up and reading it. It was then he realised he had not completely read the sheet of paper, and looked down to continue.

"_... Although fearsome in appearance, Kisame was renown for having an extremely playful personality. Almost always smiling, records state that while travelling with his partner Itachi, he would manage to make his partner laugh on very few occasions, and smile on more. Indications say that while these two certainly had the best relationship in the Akatsuki, a deep friendship may have been shared between the two of them."_

"Playful ..." The Uchiha pondered this as he looked at the sharky picture of the man he had come to know so well. Thinking back to just an hour ago where he had kissed his teacher accidently, it had looked like Kisame had been shoved forward to meet the other, which sounded exactly like what this past Kisame would want to do. And it was clear that Kisame had a connection to his past, whether he realised it or not. Could it be that the past Kisame was hanging around, just as the past Itachi was?

And Itachi read the other parts again. "..._a deep friendship may have been shared between the two ..." _Despite the spirit of his past's protests against it, Itachi was sure that at some point, the two had had a relationship that was romantic.

There was only one way to find out.

Closing his eyes, Itachi relaxed as much as he could, and called out for the spirit that insisted on hanging around. He had to get an answer out of this Itachi sooner or later, and he would rather it be sooner.

Opening his eyes into the dark world with the glowing horizon, the Uchiha blinked and looked around. There was a sofa already there, and the past Itachi was sitting on it, waiting.

"_Well? What is it this time?" _He said.

The present Itachi went to the other, but did not sit down. He said, "What was Kisame like?"

The past Uchiha blinked, as if this was not the question he was expecting. "_What do you mean?"_

"What was he like?" Itachi asked again, "His temperament, his nature, whatever."

The past Itachi blinked and folded his arms, evidently thinking on how to answer the question. The other Itachi could have sworn he saw a hint of a smile.

"_Kisame was ... playful. Funny." _The past Itachi said, staring into the distance that was the black void. "_I've never been able to relax around someone before, and yet ..." _He looked down at his hands, where there was a silver ring on his ring finger. "_He was the only one in the world who could make me smile and laugh. I didn't know why. Maybe because I thought he looked so stupid smiling all the time that I eventually found it funny." _

The present Itachi stared at Itachi's fingers. There was a ring there that had the kanji for 'scarlet' on it, and on the same finger but on his left hand, there was a second ring. It was silver and the band was more slender than the previous ring, and in it was set an aquamarine stone, the exact same shade as what the past Kisame's skin looked like.

"You have an engagement ring on your _ring _finger." He said softly.

The past Itachi looked at his finger and then hid his hand out of sight, face turning red and glaring at the other, saying, "_It's NOT an engagement ring! Ki---" He_ stopped himself for saying anymore.

"Kisame gave that to you." Itachi took a step forward and said in a determined voice. "You _were _in love with him weren't you?"

The spirit jumped up, looking angry and also with a hint of anguish marring his pretty face that was the present Itachi's twin, however the other seemed unfazed. He had realised that dealing with his past self required endurance and to get information, he needed to persuade the other with any means necessary. And so it was that when Itachi said angrily, "_How many times do I need to say it--!" _That the present Itachi grabbed him by his cloak and brought him close, glaring into his past self's face.

"And how many times do _you _need to keep denying it? You have an engagement ring on your finger from him, you always look wistful when you speak of him, and I continually have dreams of you two having sex! And they are NOT figments of my imagination, because I don't have one!"

The past Itachi only glared at his other self, but the present Uchiha could see a fault in his expression, and as he did, he saw the room around them swim. The past Itachi closed his eyes sadly, and they were thrust into memory ...

_Itachi was shivering in the cold on his bed. In their bedroom, Itachi felt cold as it was winter, even with the thick blankets. Kisame was on his way home from a solo mission, and although he didn't show it, he was slightly worried. It was a snow storm outside, and it would be hard to get though it safely. Maybe that was why he was so cold ... _

_He drifted off into a dose, and was on borderline sleep when he heard the door open and click shut softly. He woke up with a start and sat up, looking at Kisame. The blue man looked exhausted, and there was still snow on his broad shoulders. Itachi sat up and rubbed his eyes, and Kisame looked over, saying, "Sorry, did I wake you?"_

_Itachi shook his head and came over to his partner, grabbing a towel along the way. Without a word, he began brushing off the snow on his partner's shoulders, and then put it on his head, staring at him accusingly, "You're going to get sick if you wear wet clothes."_

_Kisame smiled and used the towel to dry his hair off a little, and said, "Why Itachi, I never knew you cared." It was a game between them, really. Neither would admit they cared for the other, but the truth was that they cared a lot. Itachi only smiled slightly, standing on his tippy toes to rest his chin on Kisame's shoulder, pressing close. _

_"I'm cold." He said simply._

_Kisame chuckled. After changing his clothes, Kisame climbed into bed with his partner, and they cuddled for warmth. It was only at this time that the Uchiha felt safe._

The scene changed ...

_Itachi was glaring with bright red cheeks, and Kisame looked sheepish. In his large blue hands was a small box, and he said simply, "I'm telling you, I just found it, okay?"_

_"And you want me to take it?" Itachi said in a deadly soft voice._

_"You don't have to wear it! But it would suit you a lot better than it would ever suit me." The blue man thrust the box into the other's hand, saying "Besides, if you don't want it, sell it."_

_Itachi took the ring with a sigh and opened it, staring for a while. Silently, he slipped it out of its box and put it on his finger, saying, "I already wear too much jewellery, but you're right. This does suit me."_

_That, and Itachi felt that an engagement ring was something he never thought he'd ever receive._

The past Itachi blinked and the scene changed. This was much later, it seemed, as the two were in a cave, and the sounds of the cicadas were loud. It was summer, and –

_There they were in the cave, Itachi in Kisame's lap and kissing him furiously. The shark man was kissing his partner just as hard. This went on for a while before the larger man pulled away with a gasp, resulting in Itachi panting and glaring at him._

_"We ... we shouldn't be doing this..." He said, looking away but unable to hide the pink stain on his cheeks._

_"Itachi ... even ninja can love." Kisame said softly as he held the other's arm gently. The Uchiha blushed a deeper shade of red and looked away, closing his eyes. The silence carried on for a little while before the older of the two leaned forward, taking Itachi's ear in his mouth and gently sucking on it, causing the other to gasp._

_"Kisame ... please ..." Itachi whispered though a moan that he tried to hide. _

_He was stopped by a blue finger on his lips, and Kisame looked at him seriously, but also a gentleness in his eyes that he only held for his partner. "Itachi, just this once... You've kept me up in the air with how you feel for long enough. If you truly don't want this, then move away, and I won't stop you."_

_Itachi looked down at his hands, and raised his hand up. He seemed to be thinking about something deeply, and he remain still for a little while. There were two rings on his right hand, his Akatsuki ring and the silver ring, and slowly, as if coming to a decision, he took off the slender ring._

_Kisame blinked and looked sad for a second before Itachi looked at his left hand, took the ring and slipped it onto his opposite ring finger. He looked at Kisame with finality in his gaze, and then kissed him hard, legs spreading over the other's lap and rubbing against him. A smile could be seen on Kisame's lips as he kissed the other back, and it wasn't long before they started taking off each other's clothes ..._

The memory faded to the black landscape of the memory world. The present Itachi still had his past spirit in his grasp, whom he looked at with some shock, and also knowing. The past Itachi pushed him away, holding one of his arms as he looked away, not saying a word.

The present Uchiha only stared before saying softly, "So you did have a relationship, after all."

The past Itachi shook his head, his face emotionless. "_It was never a relationship. We had sex, that was all."_

"You know, the more you keep lying to yourself the worse you look." The past Itachi said sceptically, folding his arms. "If you never had a relationship with him, why did you switch that ring onto your ring finger? You realise that's where people who are married put their rings, don't you?"

Itachi did not reply, still not looking at his present self, who spoke again. "Is that why you told me to have the relationship you couldn't have? Because you refused to acknowledge your love?"

"_Pein should have never partnered me with him," _The past Itachi said suddenly, softly, "_All it did was cause me to feel emotions that I should have never felt. Even now, I ..." _

"Well unless ninja could magically conceive though Immaculate Conception, I would say love is needed to make babies," the present Itachi said sarcastically. "So I don't see how loving Kisame would be so wrong."

**"**_It hinders operations-" The_ past Itachi began, but was stopped by something. He looked around, eyes spinning, and the present Itachi looked around too.

"_Aww, Itachi-san, your present self is _adorable_! Can I say hello?"_

The past Uchiha seemed frozen as another black clad form materialised in their world. He instantly recognised who it was, and wondered how the hell he could have got here, right now.

Kisame dropped down beside the present Itachi and peered at him, looking curious, and then grinned and said, "_Pleased to meet you. I'm the past form of that teacher you smooched a few hours ago._"

The present Uchiha turned red and said, "It was an accident! I didn't mean for it—"

"_Yeah I know. And it's thanks to me that it DID happen, and how I managed to get here." _The past Kisame interrupted, and then looked over at his former partner whose face registered nothing but stunned shock. "_Sorry it took so long, but this one had to kiss 'me' before I could come here. Something to do with spiritual connections or some other crap. Some other spirit told me so."_

The present Itachi stared, thinking in a stunned way '_other spirits?!' _It was as though another world had been opened before his eyes even more so, and so he turned to the blue man and said, "Um, so are you going to be in my head now too?"

Kisame chuckled and shook his head, pointed to the past Itachi, saying, _"Nah, I'll be hanging around my present self and talking to that fireball over there." _

The past Itachi let out a growl and then suddenly tackled the past Kisame, aiming a punch at his head and saying, _"You IDIOT! I don't want you NEAR me after leaving me alone for so long!"_

Kisame took the other's wrist and smirked up into the bright red eyes, saying, "_Aww, did you miss me, lil' Ita?"_

Cheeks flaring red and a growl escaping his throat, the past Itachi snarled out, "_DON'T call me that." _Looking over at the present Itachi, he hissed, "_And you, go back to reality and sort your own problems out. I need to deal with this idiot now."_

And with that, Itachi was thrust back into the present with a jolt, staring at his roof and flat on his back on his bed. Well, so much for advice ...

* * *

The Uchiha found that he couldn't speak to his past form at all for the next few days, as though he was making up for lost time with the past form of Kisame, or not wanting to talk to him for accidently revealing so much information. This didn't really bother Itachi much, because for the next few days of school he had been avoiding Kisame and concentrating on his exams. They were only weeks away, and Itachi found that if he thought about Kisame too much he was unable to concentrate, and that he would not allow.

However, fate it seemed liked to toy with him.

On his way out of the school building for the day, he was walking past the cherry trees in full bloom, not looking where he was going when he collided into something very solid and warm, which caught him as he tripped.

"Sorry, I wasn't-"

His face went red when he realised who it was.

"Are you okay, Itachi-san?" Kisame said, pulling the Uchiha forward so he was standing again, "It's not like you to be lost in thought like that."

Itachi couldn't speak, partly because his face was bright red and he didn't want to raise it from the ground, and partly because all the things that were going though his head suddenly were all things like, "I like you" and "You're hot" And all a manner of embarrassing things. And so it was he merely nodded at the ground, wanting to move and get away from the oh so nice gentle warmth Kisame's body was radiating and go home, but at the same time launch himself onto Kisame's chest and settle there for hours.

Kisame seemed to notice how intensely embarrassed Itachi was and stepped back a little, saying, "You know ... about the other day, its okay, I know it was an accident."

Itachi looked up without raising his head, and noticed that Kisame's cheeks seemed a tiny bit flushed. Blinking, he raised his face up finally and said, "I see ..."

Kisame seemed torn as he looked at the pretty Uchiha. He was a teacher, and here he was with a student that he liked more than platonically. Part of him felt sickened because of it, but it wasn't as though Itachi was 13. He was 18 years old, a man now, and able to make his own decisions. Still, part of Kisame insisted that having a relationship with a student was a BAD idea, after all the things he had heard from others who had done the same. Not many had come out of it proud of the relationship, and less had gone on to marry or stay together. Still, Kisame knew somehow that Itachi was not the kind of guy to just fall for anyone, and become close to anyone for that matter. With a sigh, resigned, Kisame stepped closer so they were only a little way apart, and Itachi looked up at him, surprised.

"Did you want it to be an accident?" Kisame said softly, but seriously.

Itachi blinked and stared at the man who he had grown to like a great deal, and shook his head, "No."

There, under the softly falling sakura petals, Itachi realised finally what his past self had wanted from him. It was not about revealing the past or trying to patch up his own patchy relationship with the past Kisame, it was about the present, and the present Itachi finding his own happiness with this man, whether that be as his friend or as his lover. Itachi smiled softly and Kisame did as well, the understanding between them agreed upon by both as they closed their eyes.

Under the cherry blossoms at the end of March, Itachi and Kisame kissed.

* * *

_Ack, school is terrible to us fanfiction writers, especially people like me in college! XD But I got it done in the end._

_ So, some important notes to give out. Firstly, I only have two more chapters to go on this story until it is complete, so watchers, I hope you've enjoyed this so far, and to those who reviewed along the way too, thank you also:D _

_The next chapter shall contain a lemon, so part of the chapter containing it will NOT be posted here. however, a link shall be placed in the chapter and also my profile, so if the link dissapears, you can go there to find it._

_ Lastly, to ANYONE who likes KisaIta and wants to get a doujinshi of the couple from me, I am selling an Akatsuki themed Xmas doujin that has KisaIta in it. It costs 8 US dollars. Please send me a message here or e-mail me if you would like to buy one, as I want to get rid of them._

_ Thanks always for reading and reviewing, it makes me happy to know there are other KisaIta fans out there :D_

_ST  
_


	12. Summer of Love

_Yes yes I know, this took waaaaaay too long considering it's not that long of a chapter. I hit a snag at the lemon and it gave me writers block for several months, plus I moved house, AND had my final year folio to hand up. But all is well now! Hope you all had a Merry Xmas and have a wicked New Years!!_

_And now for some terminology:  
** Narita airport** – Main international airport in Tokyo  
** Great Barrier Reef **– Largest coral reef in the world  
** Cairns** – Pronounced 'Cans', Cains is located on the East coast of Australia, about 8 hours away from the very top of Australia. It is a city of about 122,731 people and is located on the coast. It is a very popular tourist destination.  
** Pavlova **– A very sweet cake made of meringue, cream and tropical fruits. Normally eaten at parties or in summer.   
** Snag** – Australian slang for a sausage in bread.  
** "Howyergoin'mate orright?" **- An extremely condensed version of "How are you doing mate, alright?" Which is a common greeting in Australia.  
** 'The Castle' **- A hilarious movie that was extremely popular in Australia, and still is today.  
Hawaiian shirts are popular in most coastal areas of Australia.  
All temperatures are written in degrees **CELCIUS**. Keep this in mind when you read this chapter.  
It is very true; people live underground in outback Australia.  
_

* * *

**Summer of love**

It was several months later in the winter of Japan that there was a bustle of spirit in the air. Christmas was coming, and while the trees were coated in the white mush known as snow, one young man was far too busy to notice such things.

Having been accepted into the top university in Tokyo, Itachi had moved to live on campus to study. He had decided to major in English so that he could be a translator, along with learning a few other languages along the way. He had always had a keen interest in Spanish and Chinese, so he was also taking classes in those. That, and Sasori, while not taking the same classes as he was anymore (having decided to go on and study graphic arts) was his roommate on campus and they spent as much time together as they could.

It was a cold night at the beginning on December when Itachi was lying on his bed, reading over a letter he had received from Kisame at least a month ago. He had read it so many times the paper was a little worn, but he still smiled as he read it once again,

"_Dear Itachi,_

_Thanks for joining me for lunch, you look happy and healthy. I am glad the campus food is as good as they said in the leaflets they handed out at the induction ceremony. _

_Anyway, I am going back to Australia in December for a couple of weeks to visit some of my friends and stay for Christmas and I was wondering if you would like to come along. I've reserved two tickets on the plane just in case, but I can cancel them if you don't want to come. I made sure it was in your winter break._

_I would be really happy if you did. Its summer in Australia in December, so Christmas and New Years celebrations are insane down there. In any case, send me a letter back with your answer and I'll tell you more about it in person when we catch up again._

_Have fun, and I hope the workload isn't killing you!_

_Love, Kisame._

Of course, he had wasted no time asking his mother if she would pay for getting him a passport and other stuff, and she said yes. His father thought it was a good idea for him to learn the language in the country that spoke it, and Itachi had conveniently forgot to tell him that Kisame was more than a friend. He had no intentions of telling him until the time was right.

And so it was that Itachi had written back an entire page of 'yes's, and when he met up with Kisame later on, he received a hug and a kiss on the cheek, saying he laughed when he read it, and that he couldn't wait to go.

Itachi smiled and folded the letter back up and slipped it in is envelope, putting it back in his draw. Sasori looked over at Itachi with a smile on his face, saying, "I never thought I would say this, but you are actually acting very cute when you're in love, Itachi."

The Uchiha blushed and glared at Sasori as the red head giggled, and said, "Very funny, but I believe it was you who was snogging Deidara like there was no tomorrow in the hallway at lunch today."

Sasori just smirked and said, "Still, doesn't stop me from saying you're cute when in love."

Itachi huffed and flipped over onto his back, folding up his letter and putting it in his drawer. Grabbing a book, he said, "Everyone is cute when in love."

And so it was that Itachi started his life in college. He liked all the changes that it brought, too, such as not having to wear a uniform, and that the classes were far more interesting and more to his advanced level of learning than High school. All in all, Itachi was as happy as ever, but never outwardly showing how content he was to anyone but Sasori or Kisame. The weeks flew by with the midyear exams taking place for all of his subjects, but as most of his classes were language orientated, the Uchiha passed with flying colours.

It wasn't long before he was sitting in the back seat of the family car, his parent's driving him to Narita airport. He was sitting still, looking out the window, but inside he was jumping up and down, so excited. He had never left the country before, and never even thought about crossing hemisphere's into a strange new world where the seasons were reversed and the language was different. That and … he blushed inwardly as he remembered that he would be alone with Kisame for two weeks. Recalling what Deidara had said to him before he left, on the last day of term …

"_Itachi-chan, is it really true, un?!" An unmistakable voice called out in the hallway as Itachi was heading towards the dorms, and was tackled by the blond._

"_Deidara, get OFF." Itachi hissed, glaring over his shoulder, trying to pry the arms around his waist. "And what is true?"_

"_Sasori told me you're going to Australia! Is it really true, un?" Deidara said happily._

_Finally prying him off, Itachi straightened his clothes, Itachi sighed and nodded, "Yes, for two weeks, with Ki-" Suddenly he shoved his hand over his mouth; Deidara didn't need to know that. _

_Too bad he guessed anyway._

_Deidara smirked evilly and threw an arm around Itachi's shoulders, saying, "Eeehhh? Alone with Kisame for two weeks? You two really are _tight _aren't you, un?"_

_Itachi glared at him and smacked his arms away, blushing, "It's just a holiday to improve my English, nothing more!" _

"_Really? Deidara smirked and stepped back, folding his arms, "Well, if a romantic situation arrives, take advantage of it away from your dad, un."_

_Itachi blushed deeper and looked away, ignoring Deidara as he pleaded to the Uchiha to bring him back a Koala._

To be honest with himself, maybe he was just too innocent, not having even pondered that it was possible for that to happen. Of course, he didn't think Kisame would approach him like that unless he himself gave off that kind of vibe … Still, it was a bit too early in the relationship to think about doing that.

But then again, you had to expect the unexpected …

* * *

At the airport, Itachi looked around for any sign of Kisame, going to the international section of the airport. His parents followed and he checked into his flight, showing his passport and ticket that Kisame had given him during their last meeting. As he came out of the area, holding his backpack, he blinked and saw him. 

"Hey, Itachi-san." Kisame said as he smiled, coming over to the family as Itachi smiled brightly. Looking at Fugaku and Mikoto, he bowed and said, "My name is Hoshigaki Kisame, pleased to meet you."

Fugako nodded, frowning slightly, and said, "Uchiha Fugaku, and my wife, Mikoto. Please take care of my son."

"I will do my very best." Kisame promised, bowing once more before looking at Itachi, "Have you checked in?"

"Yes," Itachi nodded, knowing that if he met Kisame's eyes he would probably blush, and he just _knew _his father would notice. Gaining confidence slowly, he said, "I've just got my hand luggage now."

"Alright, how about something to eat then?" Kisame said, and Itachi nodded. Mikoto gave her son a hug and Fugaku nodded, telling him to take care. With that done, they left, Fugaku looking back once with a small frown still in place.

Kisame and Itachi watched them go, and once they were out of sight, he looked down at Itachi and winked, saying, "Keeping it secret then?"

"You saw my father." Itachi sighed, poking him, "He would have a major fit, and would probably disown me for it."

Kisame looked sad as he looked towards where the Uchiha's had disappeared from sight. "That is a sad thing. Well, I'll leave that to you, I think."

Itachi nodded, and then smiled slightly, taking Kisame's hand, "Weren't we getting dinner?"

Kisame smirked and checked his watch, "We still have an hour, so yes, let's."

* * *

If there was one thing that Itachi realised about International airports was that because this was the gateway to the world, there were a great deal of strange and interesting foods and a large variety of things to buy. There were foods in this place from all over the world, and he could have sworn he saw a shop that was devoted only to baked potatoes. Not knowing where to go, he turned to Kisame and said, "Erm …" 

Kisame seemed to notice his discomfort, and said, "Let's eat over here?" he pointed to an Italian restraunt. Itachi looked at it and nodded.

Although the prices left something to be desired, the pizza the two shared was quite good. After they had finished, they grabbed a drink and wandered around the shops before it was time to board the plane. As they lined up at the check in point, Itachi felt slightly nervous. He relaxed when Kisame placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, and they took their seats. Curiously, Itachi looked around the huge plane, thinking that it was amazing how several thousand of these planes left this place every week. It was baffling to think that so many people came in and out of the country like that …

As the plane took off, Itachi gripped the seat hard as he tensed right up. After all, it was his first time on a plane. Kisame fought down a laugh when the plane settled at its altitude and asked if Itachi was okay. The Uchiha turned stiffly to glare at him, and it took him at least half an hour to calm down.

When he did though, he gazed out of the window with a slight smile, seeing the bright lights of Japan slowly fade as the clouds blocked them from view and as he moved further away. It was now that he truly wondered what he was going to do … going to see …

Kisame seemed to read his thoughts. With a small smile, he pulled out a book from his backpack and passed it to him. Itachi took it, and smirked at the cover. "_A tourists guide to Australia"  
_

* * *

Having read the book and fallen asleep, Itachi gave a start when Kisame was gently shaking him awake, rubbing his eyes. "What is it?" 

"Breakfast time, Itachi." Kisame said, passing him a tray. Itachi yawned widely and murmured a 'thanks' before eating his plateful, feeling more energised after that. "What time is it?"

"6 am." Kisame said, pointing out the window. "Look out there."

Itachi did, and gasped, hands now flat against the glass. It was the ocean, but beyond that …

A mass of land far beyond what he could see, curving here and there, rainforest bright green and cities gleaming in the morning sunlight. The sky was an even brighter blue here than in Japan, and there were only faint wisps of cloud at their high altitude… Itachi was awestruck.

"I knew Australia was big but … I didn't think …"

Kisame chuckled and said, "You just wait … you have no idea yet."

Itachi turned and looked at the map that was on their screen. Blinking, he read the label next to one of the dots and said, "Great Barrier Reef … are we?"

"Yep. We're almost there." Kisame drew a line with his finger to where Cains was. "We'll be staying there at the summer house I brought, since it's currently empty."

"You own a house there?" The younger of the two said in surprise.

"Yes, I rent it out with it fully furnished for holiday makers, but I requested it be empty for these two weeks." Kisame winked. "Free accommodation suit you?"

Itachi nodded, suddenly modest. He had asked Kisame if he needed to pay for it, and he had shaken his head. He felt bad for it, but if it was free … well, Itachi felt better in any case.

* * *

Landing was as fun as taking off was; the feeling made Itachi tense in his chair and grab hold of the arms of the chair, and as he came to a stop, he let out a sigh of relief and a yawn. It was a seven hour flight, but even so, it still made him a little tired, especially as it was 6 am in Australia currently. The sun was already high in the sky, and the temperature was already at 25 degrees. Kisame watched as Itachi looked around curiously as they walked into the airport from the tar mat, and it was there a very darkly tanned man was waving energetically right at them, and called out in a strangely accented english voice: 

"Kisame! Oooiii, over here!"

"Ah, hey Scott." Kisame greeted, motioning for Itachi to follow him over as he shook hands with the man. Motioning to Itachi, Kisame said, "This is Itachi Uchiha, a friend of mine. Itachi, this is Scott Phillips. He's my best friend here."

"Ohi… Hello, Mr. Phillips." Itachi said, having to stop himself from speaking Japanese. As it was, he cautiously held his hand out to shake, and Scott took his hand in a strong grip.

"You can call me Scott, Itachi." He said with a wink, making sure to speak a little slower than he usually would so Itachi completely understood him, for which Itachi was grateful. Turning to Kisame, he said, "I've got a car. Wanna grab your bags and head off?"

"Sounds good!" Kisame replied.

* * *

Once they were settled in their house, Itachi decided to explore the area they were now in. Cairns was so different in comparison to the cities in Japan, which were crowded and stretched further than the eye could see. Cairns was … _small _… compared to what Itachi was used to. 

And man, was it HOT here.

With an average temperature of over 35 degrees, this city shined almost with sweat from the blazing sun. Kisame wasn't kidding when he said Australia was a hot country, and he was almost scared to think what outback Australia's temperatures must be.

"Oh, sometimes they get over 50 degrees." Kisame said with a shrug. "Because of that, people also live underground."

Itachi only gawked at him.

Heading down to the beach (Kisame with a surfboard in hand) Itachi blinked into the bright sky and endless sea. Two weeks. He was going to spend two weeks alone with Kisame in this tropical paradise …

Setting up an umbrella and towels on the beach, Kisame ran out into the surf to soak himself and swim out further to ride the waves. As Itachi watched, he suddenly found himself feeling hotter than was normal even under the blazing sun.

_Maybe … I can show him how much I want to be with him here…_

* * *

After coming out of a bakery three days after he arrived, Itachi decided that Australia had many more things to offer than pretty scenery and its blazing skies and sun. 

Pavlova. He was in love.

Munching on the sweet treat, Kisame smiled and said, "Hey, want to take a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef? It's only 40 minutes away from where we are."

"Sure." Itachi had heard of it, and apparently it was a sight to see.

40 minutes later and dressed in scuba diving equipment, he found out he was most definitely right.

The bright colours and many creatures in the coral reef were just beautiful, and the water was SO warm. It was like getting dumped into a bath on a winter's day, feeling the warmth soak though his body in a calming way, almost. Looking over to Kisame (also in a scuba diving suit) he smiled though his mask, and Kisame smiled back, coming over to him to swim by his side. Itachi watched him and the fish that flittered past him, going on their way, and the occasional turtle that came close enough to touch. Kisame could have sworn he saw a small shark nearby, but it was one of the friendly kinds, not one of the feared great whites.

* * *

The week passed on in a wave of pleasant memories for Itachi. Kisame's friends had made their stay more than enjoyable, and Kisame had had a good laugh when he had introduced Itachi to a BBQ. Eating a snag had been interesting, but Itachi had enjoyed it none the less, interested in the culture. His english too improved a great deal, since he could now actually speak it anywhere he went and people could, for the most part, understand him. 

Although he did blink and stay silent when one of Kisame's friends had come up to him and said, "Howyergoin'mate orright?" It had taken Kisame to explain what that meant to him before he realised how stupid it was not to guess.

All too soon the last few days arrived, and Itachi was sitting on the porch with a glass of iced tea. The sun was setting in a fireball of oranges, reds and purples shot across the lightly clouded sky, and Itachi intended to enjoy the last two days to the fullest extent. Leaning back against the chair, he sighed lightly and listened to the sound of Kisame cooking in the kitchen and the light summer breeze.

Setting his empty glass down, he walked back inside and put it on the sink, watching Kisame cook before saying, "I'm going to take a shower."

"Okay, dinner won't be for a little while yet." Kisame answered, looking up with a smile before going back to his cooking.

Itachi smiled slightly, amused that everything Kisame did he did with utmost precision, trying his best to be perfect, even in cooking. It was barely there, but as Itachi had been around Kisame for a while now, he could see it in him.

Going to the bathroom, he slipped off his clothes, stepping into the shower. The flow of water over his shoulders made thinking easier, and with a nod, he decided. He was far away from the glare of his father, who would totally disapprove if he ever knew of Itachi's affections to Kisame. He was here, alone with him. Who knew when they would be completely alone like this again?

At the thought, Itachi felt his body react to it, and he blushed hard, turning the heat off so the water ran cold. That wouldn't be a good idea, dressing himself and coming out into the kitchen with an erection straining in his pants (Although Kisame might like that) but he had to be dignified about this, after all. He didn't know if Kisame would be particularly ready for that step in their relationship, since although they had almost known each other two years, they had only been in a steady relationship one of those. Was that enough time to bond enough to think about taking that one step further?

Itachi shivered and shut off the tap, getting out of the shower and wrapping himself in a fluffy towel. He thought it was more than enough. Some people slept together within a week of going out together, after all. But then, not all relationships started with a student/teacher one, either.

Once dressed in an open Hawaiian shirt that Kisame's friends insisted on getting him, he pulled on his shorts and headed out into the kitchen once again. The weather was cooling down slightly now that it was approaching night time, and as Itachi sat at the table, Kisame came over and gave him his dinner. Thanking him, Kisame smiled and sat down opposite, and they ate in silence for the most part. But it was a comfortable silence; one of two friends enjoying their time together.

Once dinner was finished and Itachi helped Kisame wash the dishes, he sat down with Kisame to watch a movie called _The Castle_, which Itachi had never heard of. But leaning against his arm and breathing in his light scent, the young Uchiha decided it was now or never. Leaning up, he kissed Kisame on the cheek to get his attention. When he looked down, Itachi caught him in a proper kiss, pulling him down gently so he didn't strain himself so much by leaning up. The older of the two obliged, kissing back gently as the movie played in the background, Itachi interested but not right now. He had other things in mind …

When they broke off, Kisame looked at him curiously, and Itachi looked down before leaning his head on Kisame's shoulder, whispering three words:

"Kisame … take me."

The teacher's eyes widened to pinpricks, and before he could either protest or agree, Itachi pulled back and faced him, "We … might not get another chance ... to be truly alone together … and I … it's what I want…"

"It's okay," Kisame said, smiling slightly, "You don't need to explain yourself. I understand, it's just …"

Itachi's expression grew sad, "Do … you still see me as a student, Kisame?"

Kisame blinked, and thought about it hard. It was true that Itachi was well and truly an adult, but … "No, it's not that, it's just that," He smiled then, his mind cleared, "It was unexpected."

Itachi smiled slightly as well, and moved himself into the other's lap, saying, "Do you want to?"

Kisame actually blushed a little and nodded. In truth, he had hidden it from the Uchiha, but he had had dreams about him that would make a pimp blush that he was rather ashamed of, but he didn't dare touch him until he was sure Itachi wanted it too. And now that he did …Kisame kissed him again and pulled Itachi onto his lap, slowly exploring each other's mouths, but damn, Itachi moved slightly against him, rubbing almost, and he let out a muffled moan against Itachi's lips. The Uchiha pulled back and smirked slightly, pressing his groin to Kisame's and whispering, "Please…"

Kisame actually moaned at the heat pressed against his, and he then picked the Uchiha up, grasping his ass and pushing him further up his well toned body. Itachi wrapped his arms around the other's neck as Kisame carried him to the bedroom, where he dropped down to stand on his own feet, meeting Kisame in a deep, long kiss that just made him want more, to explore more of this man's body. His hands seemed to obey this subconscious thought, and they stroked over the other's chest, unbuttoning the shirt he wore as he went, breaking the kiss to nip the other's ear, causing Kisame to gasp in pleasure. In response, he gently pushed Itachi back and pulled off his shirt, revealing the smaller man's now lightly tanned body from the Aussie sun, and the slender limbs rippling with light muscles as Itachi reached up to pull Kisame's shirt off as well, revealing his much stronger body. The Uchiha stared, and then groaned with embarrassment as he pressed his face against Kisame's now bare chest.

"You're so much bigger than me …" He grumbled. Kisame smirked and pulled Itachi's long hair out of his ponytail.

"Size doesn't mean much, you know." He said and pushed Itachi back lightly so he fell on the bed with a surprised cry.

"Hey!" Itachi pouted, and then moved back further onto the bed as Kisame climbed on too. The larger man didn't look the slightest bit apologetic and smirked, causing Itachi to shiver. He was about to say something more, but Kisame kissed him hard, only making Itachi melt and moan in his throat, bare skin blushing together, Itachi's long legs wrapping around the other's hips.

It wasn't long before they were naked on the bed, Itachi actually slightly nervous now. Not of Kisame, but of the situation. But the older man made him relax under his larger body with kisses and gentle touches. And so, he let himself go to bliss, moans and cries of pleasure echoing around the room as the two of them joined in mind and body. It was short lived, but it was to be expected of Itachi, being his first time. They both lay on the bed for what felt like hours afterwards, their hands doing the talking as they traced each other's bodies, touching muscles under their skins, feeling more intimate with each other than the actual act of sex itself. It was a great feeling.

They showered and climbed into bed together naked as neither felt like putting their clothes on. It was not the first time Itachi had shared a bed with someone, but the first time to do so naked.

He had never felt more relaxed or calm.

He fell to sleep in a bliss of pleasure and comfort, and it was past midnight that his phone rang to spoil the night. As Itachi reached out, still asleep, and answered the call that he woke up properly at the sound of his mother's distress:

"Your father's had a heart attack!"

* * *

Both Kisame and Itachi flew home to Japan the next day, taking an earlier flight than they had intended. Saying goodbye to the people they had met, Itachi boarded the plane with a heavy heart. He had told his former teacher the news in the morning, and Kisame was worried as well, but more for Itachi than anything. 

When they arrived back in Japan 12 hours later, Kisame bid Itachi goodbye before his mother got there, and said, "If you need to talk or anything, just give me a call, okay?"

Itachi nodded and looked up, a sad expression on his face, "I'm sorry. It was meant to be a holiday, and I messed it up."

Kisame shook his head and gave him a gentle hug, "It was not your fault in the slightest. I just want you to make sure your family is safe. Don't worry about me."

Kissing him on the cheek, Kisame smiled at him before leaving on his own when he saw Mikoto arrive. He waved at her, and she briefly waved back before rushing to her oldest son, saying, "I'm sorry to call you on your holiday, but this is very urgent."

"Is he going to die?" Itachi said softly, and tears filled Mikoto's eyes. He took that as a yes and the two of them quickly left to go to the hospital.

* * *

Once they had arrived, they noticed that Fugaku had woken up when they had left. Although the doctors were doing everything they could, it was very unclear as to whether the Uchiha would survive or not. And so as it was, Itachi sat down beside his father and talked to him about his holiday, at Fugaku's request. 

"I'm glad you had such a good time." The father said softly, "Did you learn lots of english?"

"Yes. I improved a lot." Itachi mumbled, body tensing up. He knew it was confession time. He had to say this. "Father … I'm gay."

Fugaku didn't react to this for the moment, his face expressionless. But the heart monitor to his right spiked with his heartbeat, and he said angrily, "What?!"

"I thought you would want to know the truth." Itachi said softly, and Fugaku glared at him from the bed, saying, "You're supposed to take over the company and give me grandchildren! You just need the right woman and you'll see different."

He knew his father would react like this, and so he said stiffly, "There is not ever going to be a 'right woman', father. I'm sorry if I defied your expectations." And with that, he left the room, slamming the door behind him.

Outside in the halls, he was the sole person there, sitting in the line of chairs and feeling quite resentful of his family at the moment. It was not his fault that he was who he was. His sexuality was decided long before he was born. Anyone who has studied science in that field should know that, and since his father had, so should he. Itachi tried to put his mind off it and thought about the previous day he had spent with Kisame and smiled softly at the memories.

His mother then came out and sat next to him, saying his name. Itachi opened his eyes and looked at her with wariness, and she said, "So, is it Kisame that you love?"

Itachi's thoughts then went to the less innocent side of the previous day and he blushed brightly, looking away as Mikoto giggled, saying, "I'm glad you've found someone you love, Itachi. Be it man or woman. So long that he takes good care of you in the future, then I will not step between you."

"You mean that?" Itachi said, looking up at his mother as she nodded, putting a hand on his shoulder, "Of course I do. I child's happiness is the most important thing to a mother. Unfortunately, your father is a bit more _traditional _in how he sees relationships."

"So it seems …" Itachi said softly, and Mikoto stood up, saying, "Once you finish college, the world is open to you. Do whatever you wish, Itachi."

And he smiled, and nodded.

* * *

_Again, NOT THE END. One more chapter to go, and I PROMISE it won't take as long. _


	13. Back again, 4 years later

_Things you need to know:_

'_Trapped in summer for a million years'__ is a quote from a popular Australian song, 'Great southern land' by Icehouse, stemming from the fact that Australia is 2/3rd's desert and extremely hot in summer. That, and its constantly under threat from drought, which is what is happening now._

_AFL – Australian football league or Aussie rules football. A very different game than its northern counterpart. Look it up on youtube to see it in action!_

_Just so you know, the seasons are **reversed** in the Southern Hemisphere, i.e Australia. Therefore, Summer begins in **December.**_

**Back again, 4 years later**

With scorching temperatures of up to 50 degrees on a _really _severe day, Australia really was the country hidden in summer 'for a million years', as folklore stated. It was a wonder that snow even fell in the winter, but then when it did it was only on the mountains and some high altitude coastal towns. And the temperature only went into the minus's during the night. People who travel the world to play sports and come to Australia probably hate the weather.

And so it was not surprising to find that some of the best surf beaches in the world were found on the Australian coast line. Surfing was a sport that was cherished as much as AFL – Australia's national sport, and so every summer when the AFL had ended in September and the heat soared in November, it was normal to find amateur surfers, sunbathers, swimmers and a whole conglomeration of millions of people taking it to the salty surf, especially in Queensland. In the balmy heat that was a Saturday at the end of January, several men were sitting in the local pub in Cairns, drinking iced drinks to combat the heat of 35 degrees and talking of things past.

"I'll tell you what: it's so rare to see someone fit in so closely to our culture!"

"Indeed, I've never met someone who got the hang of surfing so fast. It's amazing."

"You guys talking about Kisame again?"

Scott looked at the three men with amusement, and then sat down to chat about how it was possible for an Asian man to gain all of the Australian traits so fast. It was in this discussion that the bell on the door tinkled with the sound of someone walking though, and the men turned their heads in the newcomer's direction, and gasped.

"Who is _that?!_"

"It's either a really flat chick or the prettiest man I've ever seen."

"You idiots, that's Itachi!"

At the sound of his name, the Uchiha looked up. Indeed, at 25 years old and in the peak of his youth, Itachi was really a sight to behold. And considering that right now he was wearing only his shorts and T-shit, he showed off quite a bit of skin, more so than the normal attire he was used to. His hair was almost waist length, and his body more defined. He had grown up, in short, and it showed in every way.

Coming over and smiling lightly at Scott, he said, "I heard you say my name. What's up?"

He had well and truly mastered Australian english now.

"Oh, just this lot discussing whether you were male or not." Scott said with a smirk and wink.

"Whether I was---" Itachi turned scarlet with embarrassment and folded his arms tight over his chest while Scott laughed. Some things never changed.

---

Outside in the warmth of the sun on the white sand, Itachi returned to his parasol and sat on the large beach towel, now with an iced drink in hand. He looked out into the surf and saw his partner surfing on the waves and felt a swell of pure contentment and love that he had never had when he was with his family, other than Sasuke. But now he was free of his family ties, his father having lived but crippled from his attack, and could no more argue to Itachi's choices than direct his company (which had been handed to Mikoto, and then to Sasuke when he graduated) and soon after he had left Japan recently, he had earned enough money as a translator to well and truly support himself. And with Kisame by his side and with him wherever he went, he knew that nothing in the world could hold him back now. As his mother had told him, the world was open to him.

And Sasuke?

He had not been terribly troubled by his brother's sexual preference. In fact, he wished him well, and was quite tearful when Itachi announced that he wouldn't be home much due to his work. And so, Itachi promised him that for every place he visited, he'd buy him a keyring. He now had over 200.

Deidara and Sasori were still together, travelling also as artists. Itachi didn't see much of his two closest friends anymore, but e-mails were always exchanged every week, and phone calls every few months. It was like nothing had ever changed.

He lay back on the towel and lifted his hand up, looking at the ring which Kisame had put there only three years before, and smiled even wider. He looked up further and he could have sworn the past spirits of himself and Kisame rise up into the blue, free at last from the bounds that were their reincarnations.

Their duty was finally done.

_When you realise that you have been loved  
And that you'll never be alone  
I'm going where the wind blows  
Going where the lost ones go  
**I will be with you**_

---  
(I THOUGHT THIS WAS UPLOADED!!!)

_Alas, it's over. This is more of an epilogue than a final chapter, so I hope you all enjoyed it and it gave you a little taste as to what life is like in a NORMAL (somewhat ;) ) high school where the cliché's are destroyed and all is left is a hopefully interesting plot and a nice dose of realism. In any case, I set out on a goal to defy the so-called 'fact' that all high school fanfiction was just fangirl mary sue dribble with swooning men and actual magical powers which, whether we wish to admit it or not, just don't exist in the real world. Surrealism, however, is something I believe in (ghosts, reincarnation, ect…) and is something somewhat realistic to what we are all used to in terms of trying to believe in them. In any case, it is up to you, the readers (and hopefully reviewers) to decide whether this fic defied all the cliches of crappy high school fiction, and whether or not it is even decent. I have confidence that I pulled it off, but even brilliant writers have critique thrown at them even so._

_Anyway, enough babbling._

_Thankyou to all of my lovely reviewers, who kept me going though the year to get this story completed. I loved all of your feedback, and I hope you will continue to read whatever new stuff I happen to come up with in the near future. I hope this story was everything you hoped for and more : D_

_Special thanks to Crinkle for beta-ing the first few chapters for me : D_

_Thank you to all of my readers, whom I hope will take the time to also review this for me. A review gives the writer great happiness, no matter how many he or she receives, but even so, I hope you too, have enjoyed this story. _

_And that is all! The past spirits of Kisame and Itachi say their farewell to you._

_Skins T_


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